THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


THE    THEORETICAL    BABY    AT    1 8    MONTHS. 


HOMO-CULTURE; 


OR, 


THE     inPROVEHENT    OF    OFFSPRING    THROUGH 
WISER   GENERATION. 


BY  M.  L.  HOLBROOK,  M.  D., 

EDITOR  OF  "  THE  JOURNAL  OF  HYGIENE,"  AUTHOR  OF  "  HYGIENE 

OF  THE  BRAIN,"  "  HOW  TO  STRENGTHEN  THE  MEMORY," 
"ADVANTAGES  OF  CHASTITY,"  ETC.,  ETC. 


A  New  Edition  of  "  Stirpiculture,"  Enlarged  and   Revised 


NEW  YORK  : 
M.   L.   HOLBROOK  &  CO. 

LONDON : 
L.  N.   FOWLER  &  CO. 

1899. 


Copyright  l>y 

M.  L.  IMbrook. 

1807. 

Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall. 


7  7 


PREFACE. 


During  all  ages  since  man  came  to  himself,  there  have 
been  enlightened  ones  seeking  to  improve  the  race.  The 
methods  proposed  have  been  various,  and  in  accordance 
with  the  knowledge  and  development  of  the  time  in  which 
they  have  appeared.  Some  have  believed  that  education 
and  environment  were  all-sufficient;  others  that  absti- 
nence from  intoxicating  drinks  would  suffice.  A  very 
considerable  number  have  held  the  idea  that  by  prenatal 
culture  alone  the  mother  can  mould  her  unborn  child  into 
any  desired  form.  The  disciples  of  Darwin,  many  of 
them,  have  held  that  natural  and  sexual  selection  have 
been  the  chief  factors  employed  by  nature  to  bring  about 
race  improvement. 

No  doubt  all  these  factors  have  been  more  or  less  effect- 
ual, but  the  time  has  come  for  man  to  take  special  interest 
in  his  own  evolution,  to  study  and  apply,  so  far  as  possi- 
ble, all  the  factors  that  will  in  any  way  promote  race  im- 
provement. In  the  past  this  has  aot  been  done.  We  are 
not  yet  able  to  do  it  perfectly  y  our  knowledge  is  too  de- 
ficient, lack  of  interest  is  too  universal,  but  we  can  make 
a  beginning;  greater  thoughtfulness  may  be  given  to 


suitable  marriages;  improved  environment  may  be  se- 
cured; better  hygienic  conditions  taken  advantage  of; 
food  may  be  improved ;  the  knowledge  we  have  gained  in 
improving  animals  and  plants,  so  far  as  applicable,  may 
aid  us ;  air,  exercise,  water,  employment,  social  conditions, 
wealth  and  poverty,  prenatal  conditions,  all  have  an  in- 
fluence on  offspring,  and  man  should  be  able,  to  some 
extent,  to  make  them  all  tell  to  the  advantage  of  future 
generations. 

Whatever  the  conditions  of  existence,  man  is  able  by 
his  intellect  to  modify  and  improve  them,  and  make  them 
favorably  serve  unborn  children. 

Herbert  Spencer  says:  "On  observing  what  energies 
are  expended  by  father  and  mother  to  attain  worldly  suc- 
cesses and  fulfil  social  ambition,  we  are  reminded  how 
relatively  small  is  the  space  occupied  by  their  ambition 
to  make  their  descendants  physically,  morally  and  in- 
tellectually superior.  Yet  this  is  the  ambition  which  will 
replace  those  they  now  so  eagerly  pursue,  and  which,  in- 
stead of  perpetual  disappointments,  will  bring  permanent 
satisfactions." 

If  the  chapters  included  in  this  volume  should  help  to 
arouse  in  the  minds  of  readers,  and  especially  the  younger 
portion  of  them,  some  healthy  feelings  relating  to  the  im- 
provement of  offspring  it  will  have  fulfilled  its  aim. 

Two  of  them  have  been  given  as  lectures  before  soci- 
ties.  the  main  object  of  which  was  the  discussion  of 
subjects  bearing  on  evolution  and  human  progress,  and 
they  are  included  in  this  volume  because  they  have  a 


close  relation  to  the  main  subject,  but  the  others  were 
written  especially  for  this  work. 

While  there  may  appear  in  a  few  cases  a  slight  amount 
of  repetition,  the  author  trusts  the  reader  will  not  con- 
sider it  as  unpardonable. 

With  these  few  words  I  send  the  work  on  its  mission 
hoping  it  will  bear  good  fruit. 

M.  L.  H. 


CONTENTS. 


STIRPICULTURE. 

Page. 

Plato's  Restrictions  on  Parentage ;  Lycurgan  Laws ; 
Plutarch  on  the  Training  of  Children;  Infanti- 
cide Among  the  Greeks;  Group  Marriage;  Mak- 
ing Children  the  Property  of  the  State ;  Grecian 
Methods  Not  Suitable  to  Our  Time;  Sexual 
Selection;  Difficulties  in  the  Way;  An  Experi- 
ment in  Stirpiculture ;  Intermarriage;  Woman's 
Selective  Action ;  Man's  and  Woman's  Co-opera- 
tion; The  Individual's  Rights;  Spiritual  Sym- 
pathy in  Marriage;  ......  9 

PRENATAL  CULTURE. 

Jacob's  Flocks ;  An  Illustrative  Case ;  Beliefs  of 
Primitive  Peoples ;  Birthmarks  Rare  ;  Why  Chil- 
dren Resemble  Parents;  Life's  Experiences  Af- 
fecting Child ;  Germ-plasm  ;  Congenital  Deform- 
ities; Psychical  Diseases;  Telegony;  Power  of 
Heredity  ;  Sobriety  in  the  Father ;  Sacredness  of 
Parentage;  Self-control; 55 


7 
HEREDITY   AND   EDUCATION. 

Page. 

Theories ;  Continuity  of  the  Germ-plasm  ;  A  Rational 
View  of  Heredity;  Heredity  and  the  Education 
of  Children ;  Intellectual  Acquirements ;  Instinct ; 
Knowledge  or  Heredity ;  Individuality ;  Spectre 
of  Heredity;  .  ...  .100 


EVOLUTION'S    HOPEFUL    PROfllSE   FOR   A 
HEALTHIER   RACE. 

Sexual  Selection;  Human  Selection;  Natural  Selec- 
tion; Conflict  between  Evolutionary  Theories 
and  our  Humane  Sentiments;  Ideal  of  Health; 
Adaptation  to  Environment ;  Knowledge ;  Effects 
of  Living  at  High  Pressure;  Girla  in  Manu- 
facturing Districts ;  Co-operation :  an  Example ; 
Hygiene; 130 


THE   GERM-PLASH;  ITS   RELATION   TO   OFF- 
SPRING. 

What  is  the  Germ -plasm  ?  The  Primitive  Egg ;  Fer- 
tilization of  the  Mother-cell  Necessary  to  Pro- 
duce True  Germ-plasm ;  What  Fertilization  Does ; 
Its  Process;  Helps  to  Explain  Heredity;  Health 
of  the  Germ-plasm  Necessary  in  Stirpiculture ; 
Surplus  Vitality  Necessary  for  Producing  the 
Best  Children;  Duncan  s  Statistics  as  to  Ages  of 
Parents  of  Finest  Children;  Effects  of  Alcohol 
on  Offspring ;  Food  and  the  Germ-plasm ;  Effect 


8 

Page. 

of  Air  and  Water  on  Germ-plasm;  Effect  of  Dis- 
eases oil  Germ -plasm ;  Every  Child  Born  aii  Ex- 
periment; ,  ...  162 

FEWER  AND    BETTER   CHILDREN. 

Darwin's  Opinions;  Kace  Modifications  by  Natural 
Selection;  Grant  Allen's  Views;  Spencer's  Views 
on  Parental  Duties ;  Limiting  Offspring  Among 
the  Natives  of  Uganda;  The  Fijians;  Children 
of  Large  Families  often  Superior  to  those  in 
Small  Families;  Some  Keasons  for  this. ;  ,  ,  179 

A  THEORETICAL   BABY. 

Our  First  Baby;  We  had  Theories;  What  Some  of 
Them  Were ;  My  Wife's  Love  for  Me  ;  My  Senti- 
ments; The  Child's  Easy  Birth;  Mother's  Rapid 
Convalescence:  The  Child's  First  Bath;  Form- 
ing Good  Habits  Early;  No  Crying  at  Night; 
Never  Rocked  to  Sleep;  His  Bed;  Keeping  the 
Stomach  and  Bowels  Right;  Colic,  Irritability 
and  the  Necessity  for  Diapers  Eliminated ;  Num- 
ber of  Meals  Daily;  The  Infant's  Clothing;  At 
One  Year  Old;  Teething  Gives  Little  Trouble ; 
Requires  Considerable  Water ;  Learning  to  Creep, 
Stand,  Walk  and  Talk  by  His  Own  Efforts;  In- 
vents His  Own  Amusements ;  Companionship 
With  Parents;  Mothering;  Learning  Self-con- 
trol ;  Obedience ;  Playmates ;  ,  .  184 

Notes  .  199 


STIRPICULTURE. 


Natural  selection,  which  is  the  central  doctrine  of 
Darwinism,  has  been  explained  as  the  "  survival 
of  the  fittest."  On  this  process  has  depended  the 
progress  observable  throughout  organic  nature  to 
which  the  term  evolution  is  applied  ;  for,  although 
there  has  been  from  time  to  time  degradation,  that 
is,  a  retrogression,  this  has  had  relation  only  to 
particular  forms,  organic  life  as  a  whole  evidencing 
progress  towards  perfection.  When  man  appeared 
as  the  culmination  of  evolution  under  terrestrial 
conditions,  natural  selection  would  seem  almost  to 
have  finished  its  work,  which  was  taken  up,  how- 
ever, by  man  himself,  who  was  able  by  "artificial" 
selection  to  secure  results  similar  to  those  which 
Nature  had  attained.  This  is  true  especially  in  rela- 
tion to  animals,  the  domestication  of  which  has  al- 
ways been  practiced  by  man,  even  while  in  a  state 
of  nature.  Domestication  is  primarily  a  psychical 
process,  but  it  is  attended  with  physical  changes 
consequent  on  confinement  and  variation  in  food 
and  habits.  This  alone  would  hardly  account,  how- 
ever, for  the  great  number  of  varieties  among  ani- 


10 


inals  that  have  been  long  domesticated,  and  it  is 
probable  that  actual  * '  stirpiculture "  has  been 
practiced  from  very  early  times.  This  term  is  de- 
rived from  the  Latin  stirpis,  a  stock  or  race,  and 
cultus,  culture  or  cultivation,  and  it  means,  there- 
fore, the  cultivation  of  a  stock  or  race,  although  it 
has  come  to  be  used  in  the  sense  of  the  "  breeding 
of  offspring,"  and  particularly  of  human  offspring. 
It  is  evident,  however,  that  in  relation  to  man  this 
is  too  restricted  a  sense,  and  it  must  be  extended  so 
as  to  embrace  as  well  the  rearing  and  training  as 
the  breeding  of  children,  in  fact,  cultivation  in  its 
widest  sense,  in  which  is  always  implied  the  idea  of 
improvement. 

Stirpiculture  in  this  extended  sense  was  not  un- 
known to  the  ancients,  both  in  theory  and  in  prac. 
tice.  As  to  the  former,  the  most  noted  example  is 
that  of  Plato,  who,  in  his  "Republic,"  proposed 
certain  arrangements  as  to  marriage  and  the  bring- 
ing up  of  children  which  he  thought  would  improve 
the  race,  and  hence  be  beneficial  to  the  State.  The 
State  was  to  Plato  all  in  all,  and  he  considered  that 
it  should  form  one  great  family.  This  idea  could 
not  be  carried  into  effect,  however,  so  long  as  inde- 
pendent families  existed,  and  therefore  those  ar- 
rangements had  for  one  of  their  chief  aims  the 
abolition  of  what  we  regard  as  family  life.  This 
Plato  thought  was  the  best  for  the  State,  and  the 
advantage  which  was  supposed  to  accrue  to  it  by 


11 


the  absence  of  separate  families  is  expressed  in  a 
marginal  note,  which  says  :  ' '  There  will  be  no  pri- 
vate interests  among  them,  and  therefore  no  law- 
suits or  trials  for  assault  or  violence  to  elders." 

PLATO'S  RESTRICTIONS  ON  PARENTAGE. — The  end 
would  hardly  seem  to  justify  the  means,  in  these 
days,  at  least,  when  violence  to  elders  is  an  un- 
common incident ;  but  how  was  the  community  of 
wives  and  children  by  which  it  was  sought  to  be 
attained  to  be  brought  about?    It  is  said,  "The  best 
of.  either  sex  should  be  united  with  the  best  as 
often,  and  the  inferior  with  the  inferior  as  seldom, 
as  possible."     Thus  the  people  were  to  be  classified 
into  "best"  and  "inferior,"  and  while  the  former 
were  to  be  brought  together  as  often  as  possible, 
the  latter  were  not  to  be  united  at  all  if  it  could  be 
avoided.     There  was  no  question  of  marriage  in 
either  case.     In  the  one,  the  union  was  for  the  pur- 
pose of  obtaining  children,  and  in  the  other  for  the 
simple  gratification  of  the  passions ;  for  only  the 
offspring  of  the  union  between  the  sexes  in  the 
"best"  class  were  to  be  reared.     The  children  of  the 
inferior  class  were  not  to  be  reared,   "  if  the  flock  is 
to  be  maintained  in  first-class  condition."     This  in- 
fanticide would  matter  little  to  the  parents,  as  they 
had  no  control  over  their  coming  together,  nor  con- 
cern with  the  rearing  of  their  offspring.     Lots  were 
to  be  drawn  by  the  "  less  worthy  "  on  each  occasion 


12 


of  their  being  brought  together.     This  was  that 
they  might  accuse  their  ill-luck  and  not  the  rulers, 
in  case  their  partners  were  not  to  their  liking.    The 
State  was  to  provide  not  only  what  men  and  women 
were  to  be  sexually  united,  but  the  ages  within 
which  this  was  to  be  permitted  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  offspring.     For  a  woman,  the  beginning 
of  childbearing  for  the  State  was  fixed  at  twenty 
years  of  age,  and  it  was  to  continue  until  forty.     For 
men,  the  period  of  procreation  is  said  to  be  between 
twenty-five  and  fifty-five  years  of  age.     After  the 
specified  ages  men  and  women  were  to  be  allowed  to 
"range  at  will,"  except  within  certain  prescribed 
degrees,  but  on  the  understanding  that  no  children 
born  to  such  unions  were  to  be  reared.     It  is  evi- 
dent that  under  such  a  system  the  actual  relation- 
ship between  the  members  of  the  State  family  could 
be  known  only  to  its  rulers  ;  but  to  provide  against 
the  union  of  persons  too  nearly  related  by  blood, 
all  those  who  were   "begotten  at  the  time  their 
fathers  and  mothers  came  together  "  were  regarded 
as  brothers  and  sisters.     But  even  brothers  and  sis- 
ters might  be  united  "if  the  lot  favors  them,  and 
they  receive  the  sanction  of  the  Pythian  oracle." 
Thus  far  for  the  breeding  of  children  laid  down  in 
Plato's  "  Republic."    As  to  the  rearing  of  them,  we 
need  only  say  that  the  children  allowed  to  live  were 
to  be  placed  in  the  custody  of  guardians,  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  State  from  among  the  most  worthy 


13 


of  either  sex,  who  were  to  bring  them  up  in  accord- 
ance with  the  principles  of  virtue. 

The  idea  which  formed  the  basis  of  the  regula- 
tions as  to  marriage  in  the  "  Republic  "  was  carried 
into  practice  by  Lycurgus  in  his  government  of 
Sparta.  We  are  told  by  Plutarch  in  his  "Lives," 
that  Lycurgus  considered  children  not  so  much  the 
property  of  their  parents  as  of  the  State,  "and 
therefore  he  could  not  have  them  begotten  by  ordi- 
nary persons,  but  by  the  best  men  in  it. "  But  he 
did  not  attempt  to  break  up  the  private  family,  as 
was  proposed  by  Plato.  He  sought  rather  to  en- 
large its  boundaries  by  allowing  the  introduction  of 
a  fresh  paternal  element  when  this  could  be  done 
with  advantage  to  the  State.  Thus,  he  approved  of 
a  man  in  years  introducing  to  his  young  wife  a 
6 '  handsome  and  honest "  young  man,  that  she 
might  bear  a  child  by  him.  Moreover,  if  a  man  of 
character  became  impassioned  of  a  married  woman 
on  account  of  her  honesty  and  beautiful  children, 
he  might  treat  with  her  husband  for  the  loan  of 
her,  "  that  so  planting  in  a  beauty-bearing  soil,  he 
might  produce  excellent  children,  the  congenial  off- 
spring of  excellent  parents."  The  principles  which 
influenced  Lycurgus  were  the  same  as  those  sought 
to  be  applied  by  Plato,  although  in  a  different  way. 
Plutarch  says,  "  He  observed  the  vanity  and  ab- 
surdity of  other  nations,  where  people  study  to  have 
their  horses  and  dogs  of  the  finest  breed  they  can 


procure,  either  by  interest  or  money,  and  yet  keep 
their  wives  shut  up,  that  they  may  have  children 
by  none  but  themselves,  though  they  may  happen 
to  be  doting,  decrepid  or  infirm. "  Hence  Lycurgus 
sought  to  drive  away  the  passion  of  jealousy  "by 
making  it  quite  as  reputable  to  have  children  in 
common  with  persons  of  merit,  as  to  avoid  all 
offensive  freedom  in  their  own  behaviour  to  their 


LYCURGAN  LAWS. — According  to  Plutarch,  the 
regulations  enforced  by  Lycurgus,  so  far  from  en- 
couraging licentiousness  of  the  women,  such  as 
afterwards  prevailed  in  Sparta,  did  just  the  re- 
verse, as  adultery  was  not  known  among  them. 
That  the  system  was  beneficial  to  the  State  by  tend- 
ing to  secure  healthy  offspring  is  probable  ;  but  Ly- 
curgus took  other  means  of  bringing  about  this  re- 
sult. His  requiring  girls  to  dance  naked  in  public 
was  intended  to  teach  them  modesty.  But  we  are 
told  further  :  "  He  ordered  the  virgins  to  exercise 
themselves  in  running,  wrestling  and  throwing 
quoits  and  darts,  that  their  bodies  being  strong  and 
vigorous,  the  children  produced  by  them  might  be 
the  same  ;  and  that,  thus  fortified  by  exercise,  they 
might  the  better  support  the  pangs  of  childbirth, 
and  be  delivered  with  safety."  Moreover,  he  pro- 
vided against  the  propagation  of  disease  and  de- 
formation by  directing  that  only  such  children 


15 


should  be  reared  as  passed  examination  by  the  most 
ancient  men  of  the  tribe.  If  a  child  were  strong 
and  well-proportioned,  they  gave  orders  for  its  edu- 
cation and  assigned  it  one  of  the  nine  thousand 
shares  of  land.  Thus  infanticide  was  a  recognized 
part  of  the  Spartan  system,  as  it  was  in  that  of 
Plato.  The  elders  of  the  tribe  were  very  careful 
about  the  nurses  to  whom  the  children  were  as- 
signed. When  seven  years  old,  the  children  were 
enrolled  in  companies,  where  they  were  all  kept 
under  the  same  order  and  discipline,  and  had  their 
exercises  and  recreations  in  common.  The  boy  of 
best  conduct  and  courage  was  made  captain,  and 
their  whole  education  was  one  of  obedience.  As 
for  learning,  Plutarch  says  they  had  just  what  was 
absolutely  necessary  ;  and  certainly  it  was  not  such 
as  could  be  recommended  for  imitation  in  these 
days. 

Xenophon,  in  his  essay  on  "The  Lacedemonian 
Republic, "  adds  little  to  what  Plutarch  tells  us  with 
reference  to  the  marriage  regulations  of  Lycurgus. 
He  remarks,  however,  that  marriage  was  not  al- 
lowed until  the  body  was  in  full  strength,  as  this 
was  conducive  "to  the  procreation  of  a  robust  and 
manly  offspring."  He  affirms,  also,  that  those  who 
were  allowed  by  arrangement  to  associate  with 
other  men's  wives  were  men  who  had  an  aversion 
to  living  with  a  wife  of  their  own  ! 


16 


PLUTARCH  ON  THE  TRAINING  OF  CHILDREN. — In 
his  "Morals,"  Plutarch  gives  a  dissertation  on  the 
training  of  children,  the  first  portion  of  which  deals 
with  stirpiculture  in  the  limited  sense  of  the  term, 
but  is  very  inadequate.     Indeed,  the  only  advice  he 
gives  is  that  a  man  should  not  keep  company  with 
harlots  or  concubines,  because  children  by  them  are 
"blemished  in  their  birth"   by  their  base  extrac- 
tion ;  and  that  no  man  should  * '  keep  company  with 
his  wife  for  issue's  sake  but  when  he  is  sober,"  lest 
he  beget  a  drunkard.     The  main  portion  of  Plu- 
tarch's treatise  is  concerned  with  the  education  of 
children,  which  is  the  second  part  of  stirpiculture 
as  a  system  of  complete  cultivation.     Introductory 
to  the  subject  of  education  he  speaks  of  nursing,  to 
which  he  attaches  much  importance.     Plutarch  in- 
sists on  the  necessity  of  mothers  nursing  their  own 
children ;    nature,    by    providing    them    with    two 
breasts,  showing  them  that  they  can  nurse  even 
twins.     But  if  they  cannot,  they  are  to  choose  the 
best  nurses  they  can  get,  and  such  as  are  bred  after 
the  Greek  fashion.     For,   "  as  it  is  needful  that  the 
members  of  children  should  be  shaped  aright  as 
soon  as  they  are  born,  that  they  may  not  afterwards 
prove  crooked  and  distorted,  so  it  is  no  less  expedi- 
ent that  their  manners  be  well  fashioned  from  the 
very  beginning  ;   for  childhood  is  a  tender  thing, 
and  easily  wrought  into  any  shape. " 

After  referring  to  the  importance  of  the  choice  of 


17 


good  companions  for  a  child,  Plutarch  proceeds  to 
consider  the  question  of  education,  which  he  speaks 
of  as  the  matter  of  most  concern.  As  to  education 
in  general,  he  points  out  that  a  concurrence  of  three 
things  is  necessary  to  the  "  completing  of  virtue  in 
practice,"  which  is  the  aim  of  that  process,  that  is: 
Nature,  reason  or  learning,  and  use  or  exercise  ; 
For,  "if  nature  be  not  improved  by  instruction,  it 
is  blind ;  if  instruction  be  not  assisted  by  nature, 
it  is  maimed  ;  and  if  exercise  fail  of  the  assistance 
of  both,  it  is  imperfect  as  to  the  attainment  of  its 
end. "  There  cannot  be  ' '  instruction  " — a  term  which 
is  here  used  as  equivalent  to  "education,"  although 
the  latter  has  a  wider  signification  than  the  former, 
and  being  equivalent  to  mental  cultivation, — with- 
out a  teacher,  and  Plutarch  says  well,  "  we  are  to 
look  after  such  masters  for  our  children  as  are 
blameless  in  their  lives,  not  justly  reprovable  for 
their  manners,  and  of  the  best  experience  in  teach- 
ing. For  the  very  spring  and  root  of  honesty  and 
virtue  lies  in  the  felicity  of  lighting  on  good  educa- 
tion." He  is,  indeed,  so  much  impressed  with  its 
value  that  he  affirms  :  "  The  one  chief  thing  in  this 
matter — which  compriseth  the  beginning,  middle 
and  end  of  all — is  good  education  and  regular  in- 
struction." These  two  "afford  great  help  and  as- 
sistance towards  the  attainment  of  virtue  and  felici- 
ty." He  adds:  "Learning  alone,  of  all  things  in 
our  possession,  is  immortal  and  divine." 


18 


Plutarch  dwells  on  various  other  matters  con- 
nected with  education  better  fitted  for  his  times 
than  ours,  but  he  refers  to  the  importance  of  exam- 
ple in  words  that  are  deserving  of  careful  consider- 
ation. He  says  :  "The  chief est  thing  that  fathers 
are  to  look  to  is,  that  they  themselves  become  ef- 
fectual examples  to  their  children,  by  doing  all 
those  things  which  belong  to  them,  and  avoiding 
all  vicious  practices,  that  in  their  lives,  as  in  a 
glass,  their  children  may  see  enough  to  give  them 
an  aversion  to  all  ill  words  and  actions.  For  those 
that  chide  children  for  such  faults  as  they  them- 
selves fall  into  unconsciously  accuse  themselves, 
under  their  children's  names.  And  if  they  are  alto- 
gether vicious  in  their  own  lives,  they  lose  the  right 
of  reprehending  their  very  servants,  and  much 

more  do  they  forfeit  it  to  their  sons 

Wherefore  we  are  to  apply  our  minds  to  all  such 
practices  as  may  conduce  to  the  good  breeding  of 
our  children." 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  marriage  regula- 
tions ascribed  to  Lycurgus  were  based  on  institu- 
tions already  in  existence  among  the  Spartans. 
From  the  statement  of  Polybius,  that  the  brothers 
of  a  house  often  had  one  wife  between  them,  it  has 
been  inferred  that  in  Sparta  the  Tibetan  form  of 
polyandry  was  practiced.  According  to  Plutarch, 
another  curious  marriage  custom  prevailed,  show- 
ing that  the  Spartans,  who  differed  in  various  re- 


19 


spects  from  other  Greeks,  had  retained  primitive 
habits.  Thus,  the  bridegroom  carried  off  the  bride 
by  violence,  and  for  some  time  after  this  "mar- 
riage by  capture  "  he  visited  her  "  with  great  cau- 
tion and  apprehension  of  being  discovered  by  the 
rest  of  the  family ;  the  bride  at  the  same  time  ex- 
erted all  her  art  to  contrive  convenient  opportuni- 
ties for  their  private  meetings.  And  this  they  did, 
not  for  a  short  time  only,  but  some  of  them  even 
had  children  before  they  had  an  interview  with 
their  wives  in  the  daytime  !  This  custom  had  much 
in  common  with  the  sadica  marriages  of  the  early 
Arabs,  who,  as  we  are  told  by  Professor  Robertson 
Smith,  allowed  a  woman,  while  she  remained  with 
her  own  tribe,  to  receive  the  clandestine  visits  of  a 
lover.  Her  offspring  were  recognized  as  legitimate 
and  became  members  of  the  tribe.  The  incident  of 
"capture"  could  not  occur,  as  it  was  a  general 
custom  in  ancient  Arabia  for  a  husband  to  live 
among  his  wife's  kinsfolk. 

INFANTICIDE  AMONG  THE  GREEKS. — The  practice 
of  infanticide,  which  was  the  only  mode  by  which 
Lycurgus,  or  even  Plato  in  his  imaginary  republic, 
could  really  insure  the  existence  of  a  healthy  and 
vigorous  population,  was  undoubtedly  a  survival 
from  primitive  times.  The  sacredness  of  infant 
life  is  the  result  of  the  high  moral  tone  which  has 
accompanied  the  spread  of  Christianity ;  and  it  may 


20 


be  said  to  be  almost  unknown  outside  of  the  Christ- 
ian era.  Various  reasons  are  assigned  by  differ- 
ent peoples  for  the  practice  of  infanticide ;  but  one 
cause  universally  operative  is  the  objection  to  rear- 
ing malformed  or  unhealthy  offspring.  Savages 
adopt  various  modes  of  improving,  according  to 
their  ideas,  the  physical  appearance  of  their  chil- 
dren. Giving  the  proper  form  to  the  nose  is  con- 
sidered a  very  important  matter  by  the  native 
Australian  mother  and  by  the  Polynesian  Island- 
ers ;  as,  indeed,  it  was  by  the  ancient  Persians, 
among  whom  the  molding  of  the  nose  to  the  proper 
curve  was  essential,  especially  in  the  royal  family. 
The  flat  head  of  the  American  Indian  of  the  north- 
west coast  was  at  one  time  considered  a  beauty, 
and  was  restricted  to  the  members  of  the  tribe, 
slaves  not  being  allowed  to  undergo  the  necessary 
head  compression.  The  small  artificial  foot  of  the 
Chinese  lady  is  another  case  in  point.  But  how- 
ever much  the  physical  appearance  might  be  al- 
tered, no  effect  could  thus  be  made  in  the  general 
physique  of  the  race.  The  most  easy  way  of  keep- 
ing this  up  to  a  proper  standard  is  to  destroy  all  the 
infants  that  possess  physical  defects ;  and  such  a 
course  is  adopted  by  many  savages,  although  it  is  by 
no  means  the  most  influential  cause  of  infanticide. 

GROUP  MARRIAGE. — A  remarkable  system  of  re- 
lationships, with  which  is  combined  a  series  of  reg- 


21 


ulations  framed  with  the  object  of  pointing  out 
what  persons  are  entitled  to  enter  into  the  marital 
relation,  is  found  to  be  prevalent  in  nearly  all  un- 
civilized peoples.  The  members  of  a  tribe  are 
divided  into  two  or  more  groups,  each  of  which  con- 
sists of  persons  who  are  nearly  related  by  blood, 
and  who  are  forbidden,  therefore,  to  intermarry. 
One  of  the  tribes  of  Central  Australia,  the  Dieyerie, 
has  a  legend  which  explains  the  marriage  system 
common  to  them  and  to  all  the  other  tribes,  as 
being  intended  to  prevent  the  evil  effects  of  inter- 
marriage between  persons  very  near  of  kin.  The 
story  is  valuable  as  showing  the  opinion  enter- 
tained by  savages  as  to  the  effect  on  the  race  of 
breeding  in  and  in — a  subject  to  which  we  may 
have  occasion  to  make  further  reference.  Dr.  J.  F. 
McLennan  and  other  writers  on  primitive  marriage 
refer  to  the  practice  among  certain  civilized  peo- 
ples of  antiquity  of  what  we  regard  as  incestuous 
marriage,  in  support  of  the  view  that  in  the  earl} 
history  of  mankind  intercourse  between  the  sexes 
was  promiscuous.  *  Such  an  explanation  is  entirely 
uncalled  for,  however,  as  the  custom  was  intended 
to  secure  purity  of  blood,  that  is,  blood  of  a  par- 


*  Mr.  Darwin  accepted  this  view  at  first;  but  in  a  note  to  the  sec- 
ond edition  of  his  "Descent  of  Man"  he  says:  "  C.  Staniland 
Wake  argues  strongly  against  the  views  held  by  these  three  writers 
on  the  former  prevalence  of  almost  promiscuous  intercourse."  See 
"  Development  of  Kinship  and  Marriage."  Redway,  London.  1888. 


22 


ticular  line  of  ancestors.  Such  marriages  were 
known  only  to  a  few  peoples,  and  they  were  evi- 
dently of  comparatively  late  origin.  Whether  the 
purity  of  blood  was  attended  with  improvement  of 
the  stock  may  be  doubted  ;  as,  whatever  may  have 
been  the  actual  origin  of  the  marriage  regulations 
of  the  numerous  peoples  among  whom  the  classifi- 
catory  system  of  relationship  is  established,  they 
are  intended,  without  question,  to  prevent  the  in- 
termarriage of  persons  who  are  regarded  as  near 
blood  relations,  the  general  disapproval  of  which 
must  have  had  some  sufficient  reason,  or,  at  all 
events,  must  have  originated  in  ideas  supposed  to 
furnish  good  grounds  for  it. 

MAKING  CHILDREN  THE  PROPERTY  OF  THE  STATE. — 
The  principles  which  were  embodied  in  the  scheme 
proposed  by  Plato,  in  his  "Republic,"  to  bring  about 
an  improvement  in  the  race  are  mainly  two :  First, 
restriction  on  the  formation  of  procreative  unions ; 
second,  infanticide.  The  breaking  up  of  private  or 
separate  families  necessarily  resulted  from  the  oper- 
ation of  his  " marriage"  regulations,  and  was  in- 
tended to  emphasize  the  idea  which  Plato,  like  Ly- 
curgus,  insisted  on,  that  the  children  belonged  to 
the  State.  Lycurgus  sought  to  enforce  the  same 
idea  by  allowing  wives  to  have  intercourse  with 
other  men  than  their  husbands,  thus  making  chil- 
dren "common"  in  some  sense,  while  retaining 


the  separate  family  intact.  Thus  he  introduced,  or 
rather  it  should  be  said,  established  a  modified  form 
of  polyandrous  marriage  ;  Plato's  system,  on  the 
other  hand,  being  one  of  mere  pairing,  as  in  the 
breeding  of  animals.  In  either  case  the  union  of 
very  near  relations  was  not  permitted,  that  is,  be- 
tween brother  and  sister,  or  parent  and  child.  Yet 
Lycurgus  allowed  marriage  between  a  half-brother 
and  sister  by  the  same  mother.  Curiously  enough, 
this  was  forbidden  by  the  Athenian  law,  which 
permitted  a  brother  and  sister  by  the  same  father 
only  to  intermarry.  The  Greek  rule,  as  laid  down 
in  Smith's  ' '  Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  An- 
tiquities," was  that  "proximity  of  blood  or  con- 
sanguinity was  not,  with  some  few  exceptions,  a  bar 
to  marriage,"  although  direct  lineal  descent  was 
so.  Moreover,  there  was  no  attempt  to  enforce 
consanguineous  marriages,  so  as  to  ensure  purity 
of  blood,  such  as  was  customary  among  the  Incas  of 
Peru,  the  laws  of  which  required  that  the  oldest 
son  and  daughter  of  the  sovereign  should  inter- 
marry because  the  Incas  were  descended  from  the 
Sun,  and  the  Sun  had  married  his  sister  the  Moon, 
and  had  united  in  marriage  his  two  first  children  ! 
A  more  practical  reason  was  found  in  the  rule  that 
the  kingdom  should  be  inherited  through  both 
parents.  Hence  it  was  not  permitted  to  mix  the 
blood  of  the  Sun,  or  rather  of  those  who  claimed 
solar  descent,  with  that  of  men. 


GRECIAN  METHODS  NOT  SUITABLE  TO  OUR  TIME.— 
It  is  evident  that  the  principles  which  governed  the 
ancients  in  their  endeavors  to  improve  the  race  are 
not  capable  of  application  at  the  present  day,  under 
the  conditions  of  modern  civilization.  Instead  of 
placing  further  restrictions  on  marriage,  the  ten- 
dency now  is  to  loosen  those  which  have  hitherto 
existed,  although  certain  regulations,  such  as  re- 
late to  age,  consent,  etc.,  are  recognized  as  neces- 
sary for  the  interests  of  the  State.  Moreover, 
greater  facilities  are  given  than  were  formerly  al- 
lowed for  dissolving  ill-assorted  unions,  thus  get- 
ting rid  of  the  excuse  for  the  formation  of  irregular 
connections.  Nevertheless,  the  interests  of  neither 
society  at  large  nor  of  individuals  will  permit  of 
the  introduction  of  the  temporary  or  occasional 
pairing  system,  which  is  a  return  to  an  animal 
state,  and,  therefore,  not  worthy  of  the  dignity  im- 
plied in  the  term,  marriage,  and  which  is  incon- 
sistent with  true  family  life.  It  would  be  liable  to 
all  kinds  of  abuse,  and  would  become,  in  most 
cases,  a  legalized  system  of  prostitution,  thus  drag- 
ging society  down  to  a  lower  level  instead  of  rais- 
ing it,  and  tending  to  the  deterioration,  instead  of 
the  improvement,  of  the  race,  if  not  to  its  extinc- 
tion. As  to  infanticide,  this  certainly  would  not 
be  tolerated  by  public  opinion,  although  it  is  now 
largely  resorted  to  under  the  guise  of  abortion. 
To  legalize  child-killing  under  any  circumstances 


would  be  to  offer  a  premium  for  murder,  even  if 
it  were  permitted  only  with  the  express  sanction 
in  every  case  of  the  officials  of  the  State.  There 
is  now  no  justification  for  such  a  course,  as  the 
education  of  those  who  appear  to  be  on  a  mental 
level  with  the  animals  has  been  carried  so  far  that 
the  term  ' l  idiot "  may  soon  have  to  be  dropped 
from  our  vocabulary. 

It  must  be  affirmed,  however,  that  the  whole  sub- 
ject of  the  improvement  of  the  race  was  dealt  with 
by  Plato,  and,  indeed,  by  the  ancients  generally, 
in  a  very  crude  and  superficial  manner.  This  has 
been  well  pointed  out  by  Professor  B.  Jowett  in 
the  Introduction  to  his  translation  of  Plato's  "Re- 
public." Professor  Jowett  objects  generally  that 
the  great  error  in  the  speculations  of  Plato  and 
others  on  the  improvement  of  the  race  is,  ' '  that 
the  difference  between  men  and  the  animals  is  for- 
gotten in  them.  The  human  being  is  regarded 
with  the  eye  of  a  dog  or  bird  fancier,  or  at  best 
of  a  slave  owner ;  the  higher  or  human  qualities 
are  left  out.  The  breeder  of  animals  aims  chiefly 
at  size  or  speed  or  strength ;  in  a  few  cases,  at 
courage  and  temper ;  most  often  the  fitness  of  the 
animal  for  food  is  the  greatest  desideratum.  But 
mankind  are  not  bred  to  be  eaten,  nor  yet  for  their 
superiority  in  fighting  or  in  running  or  in  drawing 
carts.  Nor  does  the  improvement  of  the  human 
race  consist  merely  in  the  increase  of  the  bones  and 


26 


flesh,  but  in  the  growth  and  enlightenment  of  the 
mind.  Hence  there  must  be  a  marriage  of  true 
minds  as  well  as  of  bodies  ;  of  imagination  and 
reason  as  well  as  of  lusts  and  instincts.  Men  and 
women  without  feeling  or  imagination  are  justly 
called  brutes  ;  yet  Plato  takes  away  these  qualities 
and  puts  nothing  in  their  place,  not  even  the  desire 
of  a  noble  offspring,  since  parents  are  not  to  know 
their  own  children.  The  most  important  trans- 
action of  social  life  he  who  is  the  idealist  philoso- 
pher converts  into  the  most  brutal.  For  the  pair 
are  to  have  no  relation  to  each  other  but  at  the 
hymeneal  festival ;  their  children  are  not  theirs, 
but  the  State's ;  nor  is  any  tie  of  affection  to  unite 
them.  Yet  the  analogy  of  the  animals  might  have 
saved  Plato  from  a  gigantic  error  if  he  had  not  lost 
sight  of  his  own  illustration  !  For  the  "nobler  sort 
of  birds  and  beasts"  nourish  and  protect  their  off- 
spring and  are  faithful  to  one  another  !  It  is  cer- 
tainly surprising,  as  Jowett  says,  that  the  greatest 
of  ancient  philosophers  should,  in  his  marriage 
regulations,  have  fallen  into  the  error  of  separating 
body  and  mind.  He  did  so  probably  through  a 
false  notion  of  the  antagonism  between  the  family 
and  the  State,  and  hence,  as  Lycurgus  did  not  aim 
at  destroying  family  life  he  escaped  that  error. 

And  yet  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  the  mar- 
riage regulations  of  Lycurgus  had  any  real  effect 
on  the  children  of  the  State.  That  the  early  Spar- 


27 


tans  were  a  hardy  and  courageous  people  is  un- 
doubtedly true  ;  but  apart  from  the  practice  of  in- 
fanticide, which  would  necessarily  get  rid  of  the 
weak,  their  character  and  conduct  can  be  explained 
by  reference  merely  to  the  system  of  training,  both 
of  youth  and  maidens,  which  Lycurgus  rigidly  en- 
forced. Lacedemon  was  essentially  a  military  re- 
public, and  its  rulers  aimed  to  breed  soldiers,  rather 
than  men  in  the  noble  sense  in  which  the  term 
"man"  is  now  used.  Indeed,  there  is  nothing  to 
show  that  any  compulsory  attempt  to  improve  the 
race  has  ever  been  successful,  apart  from  the  effect 
which  the  destruction  of  feeble  and  deformed  off- 
spring may  have,  and  the  influence  of  the  severe 
training  of  those  who  are  allowed  to  survive. 

Nevertheless,  the  human  race  has  vastly  im- 
proved since  its  first  appearance  on  the  earth,  if 
the  teachings  of  the  doctrine  of  evolution  are  true 
and  applicable  to  man  as  well  as  to  the  inferior 
animals.  The  passage  from  the  native  Australian 
to  the  European  is  a  long  one,  and  yet  they  are 
supposed  to  represent  a  common  primitive  stock. 
The  steps  by  which  the  European  has  been  gradu- 
ally developed,  with  his  special  characteristics,  can- 
not now  be  traced ;  but  one  of  the  chief  agencies 
to  which  the  result  is  due  is  that  to  which  Darwin 
applied  the  term,  "sexual  selection."  As  natural 
selection  has  relation  to  adaptation,  and  its  aim  is 
"the  survival  of  the  fittest,"  so  sexual  selection 


has  reference  to  beauty,  and  its  object  is  the  per- 
petuation of  the  most  beautiful,  according  to  the 
taste  of  the  peoples  practicing  it.  Darwin  was  the 
first  to  point  out  the  importance  of  sexual  selection 
for  certain  purposes  which,  as  stated  by  Professor 
G.  J.  Romanes,  in  his  "Darwin  and  after  Dar- 
win,"* "have  no  reference  to  utility  or  the  pre- 
servation of  life."  The  latter  writer  in  treating  of 
the  subject  affirms  it  is  universally  admitted  that 
the  higher  animals  do  not  pair  indiscriminately, 
the  members  of  either  sex  preferring  ' '  those  in- 
dividuals of  the  opposite  sex  which  are  to  them 
most  attractive."  Many  birds  and  certain  mam- 
mals clearly  display  the  esthetic  sense,  which  is 
shown  by  the  former  particularly  in  the  adorning 
of  their  nests  with  colored  objects;  and  it  is  re- 
flected in  the  personal  appearance  of  the  animals 
themselves.  During  the  pairing  season,  birds  take 
on  their  most  brilliant  plumage,  and  the  males 
take  great  pains  to  exhibit  their  charms  before  the 
females,  actively  competing  with  one  another  in  so 
doing.  There  is  similar  rivalry  among  song  birds, 
who  strive  to  see  which  can  best  please  the  fe- 
males by  their  singing. 

SEXUAL    SELECTION. — Professor  Romanes,   after 
referring  to  those  facts,  which  are  considered  in  de- 

*  The  Open  Court  Publishing  Company,  Chicago.     1892. 


29 


tail  by  his  great  predecessor,  states  the  theory  of 
sexual  selection  as  follows:  "  There  can  be  no 
question  that  the  courtship  of  birds  is  a  highly 
elaborate  business,  in  which  the  males  do  their  best 
to  surpass  one  another  in  charming  the  females. 
Obviously  the  inference  is  that  the  males  do  not 
take  all  this  trouble  for  nothing ;  but  that  the  fe- 
males give  their  consent  to  pair  with  the  males 
whose  personal  appearance,  or  whose  voice,  proves 
to  be  the  most  attractive.  But,  if  so,  the  young  of 
the  male  bird  who  is  thus  selected  will  inherit  his 
superior  beauty  ;  and  thus,  in  successive  genera- 
tions, a  continuous  advance  will  be  made  in  the 
beauty  of  plumage  or  of  song,  as  the  case  may 
be, — both  the  origin  and  development  of  beauty  in 
the  animal  world  being  thus  supposed  due  to  the 
esthetic  taste  of  the  animals  themselves." 

It  is  not  necessary  to  refer  particularly  to  the 
evidence  in  support  of  the  theory  of  sexual  selec- 
tion. There  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  is  a  most  im- 
portant factor  in  the  perpetuation  and  increase  of 
certain  characters,  those  which  come  within  the 
category  of  "beautiful,"  the  very  existence  of 
which  proves  them  to  be  beneficial  to  the  stock  to 
which  the  animals  exhibiting  them  belong.  The 
fundamental  fact  is  that  they  have  "the  effect  of 
charming  the  females  into  a  performance  of  the 
sexual  act ;  "  an  opinion  which  is  supported  by  the 
more  general  fact  that  "both  among  quadrupeds 


30 


and  birds,  individuals  of  the  one  sex  are  capable 
of  feeling  a  strong  antipathy  against,  or  a  strong 
preference  for,  certain  individuals  of  the  opposite 
sex." 

These  statements  are  applicable  also  to  man, 
with  whom  the  principle  of  sexual  selection  must 
have  been  influential  to  at  least  the  same  degree 
as  among  the  lower  animals.  It  may  be  expected, 
indeed,  to  be  more  influential,  as  the  esthetic  taste 
with  which  it  is  associated  becomes  more  highly 
developed  with  man  than  with  any  member  of  the 
animal  kingdom.  Even  here  it  is  not  a  question  of 
mere  coloration.  The  theory  of  sexual  selection  as 
framed  by  Darwin  is  concerned,  as  Romanes  points 
out,  not  so  much  with  color  itself  as  with  the  par- 
ticular disposition  of  color  in  the  form  of  orna- 
mental patterns.  These  have  a  kind  of  structural 
value,  and  certain  birds,  moreover,  possess  actual 
structural  peculiarities,  such  as  ornamental  append- 
ages to  the  beak,  the  only  use  of  which  would  ap- 
pear to  be  to  charm  the  female  during  courtship. 
We  may  suppose,  therefore,  that  sexual  selection 
has  affected  not  merely  what  may  be  termed  the 
superficial  characters  of  man,  but  to  some  extent, 
at  least,  those  which  have  a  structural  value. 

The  principle  of  sexual  selection  is  applicable 
primarily  to  the  characteristics  of  the  male  ;  but 
Darwin  supposes  them  to  have  been  transferred  to 
the  other  sex,  and  through  them  transmitted  to  the 


race  generally.  In  his  "Descent  of  Man,"  he  re- 
marks of  the  actual  influence  over  the  race  of  that 
principle  :  "  The  nervous  system  not  only  regulates 
most  of  the  existing  functions  of  the  body,  but  has 
indirectly  influenced  the  progressive  development 
of  various  bodily  structures  and  of  certain  mental 
qualities.  Courage,  pugnacity,  perseverance,  size 
and  strength  of  body,  weapons  of  all  kinds,  musical 
organs,  both  vocal  and  instrumental,  bright  colours 
and  ornamental  appendages  have  all  been  indi- 
rectly gained  by  the  one  sex  or  the  other,  through 
the  exertion  of  choice,  the  influence  of  love  and 
jealousy,  and  the  appropriation  of  the  beautiful  in 
sound,  colour  or  form  ;  and  these  powers  of  the 
mind  manifestly  depend  on  the  development  of  the 
brain." 

That  sexual  selection  has  actually  resulted  in 
modification  of  human  physical  structure,  Darwin 
thinks  can  be  shown  by  reference  to  the  ancient 
Persians,  whose  type  was  greatly  improved  by  in- 
termarriage with  the  beautiful  Georgian  and  Cir- 
cassian women.  He  refers  to  several  similar  cases, 
and  particularly  to  the  Jollofs  of  West  Africa, 
whose  handsome  appearance  is  said  to  be  due  to 
their  retaining  for  wives  only  their  most  beautiful 
slaves,  the  others  being  sold. 

Sexual  selection  may  be  operative  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  race  through  the  action  of  either 
man  or  woman,  and  the  conditions  of  its  activity 


are  different  in  either  case.  As  to  the  action  of 
man,  Darwin  says  in  relation  to  primitive  peoples  : 
1 1  The  strongest  and  most  vigorous  men — those  who 
could  best  defend  and  hunt  for  their  families,  who 
were  provided  with  the  best  weapons  and  possessed 
the  most  property,  such  as  a  large  number  of  dogs 
or  other  animals — would  succeed  in  rearing  a  great- 
er average  number  of  offspring  than  the  weaker 
and  poorer  members  of  the  same  tribe.  There  can, 
also,  be  no  doubt  that  such  men  would  generally  be 
able  to  select  the  more  attractive  women.  At  pre- 
sent, the  chiefs  of  nearly  every  tribe  throughout 
the  world  succeed  in  obtaining  more  than  one  wife." 
With  reference  to  selection  by  the  women,  Dar- 
win shows  that  among  savages  they  have  much 
more  to  say  in  their  marriages  than  is  usually  sup- 
posed. He  remarks:  "They  can  tempt  the  men 
they  prefer,  and  can  sometimes  reject  those  whom 
they  dislike,  either  before  or  after  their  marriage. 
Preference  on  the  part  of  the  women,  steadily  act- 
ing in  any  one  direction,  would  ultimately  affect 
the  character  of  the  tribe,  for  the  women  would 
generally  choose,  not  merely  the  handsomest  men, 
according  to  their  standard  of  taste,  but  those  who 
were  at  the  same  time  best  able  to  defend  and  sup- 
port them.  Such  well-endowed  pairs  would  com- 
monly rear  a  larger  number  of  offspring  than  the 
less  favored."  Darwin  adds:  "The  same  result 
would  obviously  follow  in  a  still  more  marked  man- 


33 


ner  if  there  were  selection  on  both  sides,  that  is, 
if  the  more  attractive,  and  at  the  same  time  more 
powerful  men  were  to  prefer,  and  were  preferred 
by,  the  more  attractive  women.  And  this  double 
form  of  selection  seems  actually  to  have  occurred, 
especially  during  the  earlier  periods  of  our  long  his- 
tory." 

The  investigations  of  Darwin  as  to  the  operation 
of  sexual  selection  had  reference  chiefly  to  the 
modification  of  physical  characters.  He  did  not 
altogether  lose  sight,  however,  of  its  possible  influ- 
ence in  affecting  for  the  better  the  mental  charac- 
teristics of  the  race.  He  concludes  his  enquiry  by 
the  remark  that  ' '  Man  might  by  selection  do  some- 
thing, not  only  for  the  bodily  constitution  and 
frame  of  his  offspring,  but  for  their  intellectual  and 
moral  qualities.  Both  sexes  ought  to  refrain  from 
marriage  if  they  are  in  any  marked  degree  inferior 
in  body  or  mind  ;  but  such  hopes  are  Utopian,  and 
will  never  be  even  partially  realized  until  the  laws 
of  inheritance  are  thoroughly  known.  Every  one 
does  good  service  who  aids  towards  this  end. " 

It  is  in  the  application  of  the  principle  of  sexual 
selection  to  the  mental  characteristics  of  man,  that 
any  real  improvement  of  the  race,  viewed  as  con- 
sisting of  human  beings  and  not  of  mere  animals, 
must  be  brought  about.  Beauty  of  physical  form 
and  feature  is  of  importance  in  human  relations 
only  so  far  as  it  is  associated  with  beauty  of  mind 


and  character,  that  is,  with  high  intellectual  and 
moral  attainments.  That  these  often  go  together 
is  true,  but  it  is  not  always  the  case.  Grant  Allen 
says:  "To  be  sound  in  wind  and  limb;  to  be 
healthy  of  body  and  mind ;  to  be  educated ;  to  be 
emancipated ;  to  be  free,  to  be  beautiful — these 
things  are  ends  towards  which  all  should  strive, 
and  by  attaining  which  all  are  happier  in  them- 
selves, and  more  useful  to  others."  But  physical 
and  intellectual  perfection  are  not  always  found 
together,  as  was  observed  by  Darwin,  when  he 
mentioned  among  the  causes  which  interfere  with 
the  physical  action  of  sexual  selection  the  fact  that 
men  are  largely  attracted  by  the  mental  charms 
of  women.  Professor  Jowett  affirms  truly  that 
"  Many  of  the  noblest  specimens  of  the  human  race 
have  been  among  the  weakest  physically.  Tyr- 
tsens  or  ^32sop,  or  our  own  Newton,  would  have 
been  destroyed  at  Sparta,  and  some  of  the  fairest 
and  strongest  men  and  women  have  been  among 
the  wickedest  and  worst."  Hence,  he  properly  in- 
fers that  "Not  by  the  Platonic  device  of  uniting 
the  strong  and  the  fair  with  the  strong  and  the 
fair,  regardless  of  sentiment  and  morality,  nor  yet 
by  his  other  device  of  combining  dissimilar  natures, 
have  mankind  gradually  passed  from  the  brutality 
and  licentiousness  of  primitive  marriage  to  mar- 
riage Christian  and  civilized." 

The  truth  of  this  inference  cannot  be  denied,  be- 


35 


cause  to  leave  out  of  view  considerations  of  senti- 
ment and  morality  would  fatally  vitiate  any  scheme 
for  the  improvement  of  the  human  race.  But  Pro- 
fessor Jowett  affirms  that,  "  We  do  not  know  how 
by  artificial  means  any  improvement  in  the  breed 
can  be  effected."  The  problem  is  no  doubt  a  com- 
plex one.  As  he  points  out,  a  child  has  usually 
thirty  progenitors  only  four  steps  back,  and  what- 
ever truth  there  may  be  in  the  inheritance  of 
special  physical  characters,  "We  have  a  difficulty 
in  distinguishing  what  is  a  true  inheritance  of 
genius  or  other  qualities,  and  what  is  mere  imita- 
tion or  the  result  of  similar  circumstances.  Great 
men  and  great  women  have  rarely  had  great  fathers 
and  mothers."  Professor  Jowett  thinks,  indeed, 
that  too  much  importance  may  be  ascribed  to  hered- 
ity. He  says  :  "The  doctrine  of  heredity  may  seem 
to  take  out  of  our  hands  the  conduct  of  our  lives, 
but  it  is  the  idea,  not  the  fact,  which  is  really  terri- 
ble to  us.  For  what  we  have  received  from  our 
ancestors  is  only  a  fraction  of  what  we  are  or  may 
become.  The  knowledge  that  drunkenness  or  in- 
sanity has  been  prevalent  in  a  family  may  be  the 
best  safeguard  against  their  recurrence  in  a  future 
generation.  The  parent  will  be  most  awake  to  the 
vices  or  diseases  in  his  child  of  which  he  is  most 
sensible  within  himself.  The  whole  of  life  may  be 
directed  to  their  prevention  or  cure.  The  traces  of 
corruption  may  become  fainter,  or  be  wholly  ef- 


faced ;  the  inherited  tendency  to  vice  and  crime 
may  be  eradicated.  And  so  heredity,  from  being  a 
curse,  may  become  a  blessing.  We  acknowledge 
that  in  the  matter  of  our  birth,  as  in  our  nature 
generally,  there  are  previous  circumstances  which 
affect  us.  But  on  this  platform  of  circumstances, 
or  within  this  wall  of  necessity,  we  have  still  the 
power  of  creating  a  life  for  availment  by  the  re- 
forming energy  of  the  human  will. " 

There  is  much  truth  in  these  remarks  of  Pro- 
fessor Jowett,  but  they  do  not  affect  the  argument 
in  favor  of  the  possibility  of  bringing  about  an  im- 
provement in  the  race  if  the  proper  means  are 
adopted.  It  would  not  be  any  wiser  for  the  strong 
and  healthy  to  marry  with  the  sick  and  weak,  be- 
cause the  latter  happen  to  be  highly  intellectual  or 
moral,  than  to  marry  with  the  strong  and  healthy 
if  these  physical  characters  are  united  with  mental 
weakness  or  immorality.  There  is  a  consensus  of 
opinion  at  the  present  day,  that  what  should  be 
aimed  at  is  the  union  of  physical  perfection  with 
that  of  intellect  and  character,  in  the  persuasion 
that  steps  towards  this  end  will  ultimately  lead  to 
the  general  improvement  of  the  human  race. 

DIFFICULTIES  IN  THE  WAY. — The  difficulty  is  to 
devise  and  carry  out  some  scheme  for  the  purpose 
which  shall  be  both  feasible  and  agreeable  to  pub- 
lic sentiment.  The  latter  consideration  would  pre- 


37 


vent  any  attempt  at  active  stirpiculture  under 
State  direction,  although  the  State  might  indirectly 
affect  the  result  by  subsidiary  regulations  as  to 
marriage  and  training  of  children.  There  is  noth- 
ing, however,  to  prevent  the  systematic  efforts  of 
private  individuals,  and  in  such  cases  the  causes 
which  Darwin  cites  as  interfering  with  the  physical 
action  of  sexual  selection  would  not  operate.  The 
most  systematic  experiment  in  stirpiculture  of  mod- 
ern times  was  that  originated  by  John  Humphrey 
Noyes  at  the  Oneida  Community,  in  central  New 
York,  from  1868  to  1879.  A  paper  on  this  experi- 
ment was  read  by  Anita  Newcomb  McGee  before 
the  American  Science  Association  in  August,  1891, 
which  was  published  in  "The  American  Anthro- 
pologist," 1891,  and  the  following  facts  are  taken 
from  that  paper. 

AN  EXPERIMENT  IN  STIRPICULTURE. — Noyes  was 
the  founder  of  a  religious  sect,  the  members  of 
which,  owing  to  their  desire  for  freedom  from  sin, 
were  called  Perfectionists.  Holiness  was  the  first 
principle  of  their  creed,  and  Noyes  thought  to 
transmit  that  condition  from  one  generation  to 
another  by  a  process  of  stirpiculture.  To  overcome 
the  "selfishness"  of  monogamic  marriage  he  de- 
vised a  "system  of  regulated  promiscuity,  begin- 
ning at  earliest  puberty,  and  by  a  method  of  his 
own  invention  he  separated  the  amative  from  the 


38 


propagative  functions. "  Its  first  principle  was  that 
of  a  judicious  in  and  in  breeding,  with  occasional 
mingling  of  foreign  blood,  as  in  stock-raising.  The 
second  principle  adopted  was  that  of  "careful  se- 
lection of  individuals  for  breeding  purposes.  Gene- 
alogies were  studied  and  medical  histories  com- 
piled." A  committee,  headed  by  Noyes,  selected 
the  holiest  members  who  were  free  from  physical 
defects,  intellectual  and  other  considerations  being 
given  less  weight  at  first,  although  in  later  years 
they  received  more  consideration.  The  parents 
were  of  all  ages,  but  the  father  was  always  older 
than  the  mother.  Some  sympathy  between  the 
persons  mated  was  always  required  ;  and  if  a  pro- 
position for  union  came  from  two  individuals  it  was 
allowed  if  no  objections  were  found.  Noyes  held 
that  uncle  and  niece  are  as  much  related  as  father 
and  daughter,  because  brothers  have  identical 
blood,  and  that  cousins  are  in  the  same  relation  to 
each  other  as  half  brothers.  In  the  Oneida  Com- 
munity uncles  and  nieces  twice  paired,  and  it  is 
noticeable  that  a  considerable  proportion  of  the 
children  had  Noyes'  blood  on  one  or  both  sides. 
The  founder  himself  had  nine  children  in  the  Com- 
munity, to  which  belonged  also  his  brother,  his 
two  sisters  and  their  children.  As  to  the  care  of 
the  children,  this  belonged  exclusively  to  the  moth- 
ers for  the  first  nine  months,  after  which  for  a 
further  nine  months  they  took  charge  of  their  off- 


39 


spring  at  night  only.  When  eighteen  months  old, 
the  children  were  transferred  to  a  separate  depart- 
ment which  was  managed  by  those  who  had  shown 
themselves  specially  fitted  for  the  work. 

Let  us  see  what  was  the  result  of  Noyes'  experi- 
ment. Of  the  sixty  *  children  born,  five  died  at  or 
near  childbirth  from  unforeseen  causes  depending 
upon  the  mother.  All  the  others  were  alive  at  the 
date  of  Mrs.  McGee's  communication,  except  a  boy 
who  was  reared  in  spite  of  weakness,  and  died 
from  a  trifling  malady  when  about  sixteen  years 
of  age.  All  the  children  were  strong  and  healthy, 
the  boys  being  tall — several  over  six  feet — broad- 
shouldered  and  finely  proportioned  ;  the  girls  robust 
and  well-built.  It  is  remarkable,  that  among  the 
children  between  five  and  nine  years  of  age,  thir- 
teen were  boys  and  six  only  were  girls.  With 
reference  to  their  intellectual  ability,  it  is  stated  by 
Mrs.  McGee  that,  of  the  oldest  sixteen  boys,  ten 
were  in  business,  chiefly  employed  as  clerks,  fore- 
men, etc.,  in  the  manufactories  of  the  joint  stock 
company.  The  eleventh  was  a  musician  of  repute  ; 
another  a  medical  student ;  one  passed  through  col- 
lege and  studied  law  ;  one  was  a  college  senior,  and 
one  entered  college  after  winning  State  and  local 
scholarships,  and  gave  great  mathematical  prom- 
ise. The  sixteenth  boy  was  a  mechanic,  and  the 

*  It  should  be  sixty-one. 


40 


only  one  employed  in  manual  labor.  Of  the  six 
girls  between  eighteen  and  twenty-two  years,  three 
are  said  by  Mrs.  McGee  to  be  especially  intellect- 
ual. The  mothers  of  these  children  usually  be- 
longed to  the  classes  employed  in  manual  labor, 
while  the  fathers,  with  the  exception  of  the  Noyes 
family  and  half  a  dozen  lawyers,  doctors  and 
clergymen,  were  all  farmers  and  mechanics.  It  is 
noteworthy  that,  as  a  rule,  the  fathers  were  the 
intellectual  superiors  of  their  mates,  "  and  enquiry 
develops  the  fact,  known  in  the  Community,  that 
in  these  cases  the  children  are  markedly  superior 
to  the  maternal  stock. " 

When  this  system  of  complex  marriage  had  been 
in  operation  twenty  years,  the  desire  to  return  to 
the  old  system  of  monogamy  arose,  and  it  became 
so  strong  in  the  Community  that  its  founder  re- 
tired from  it,  and  on  August  26,  1879,  complex 
marriage  was  renounced,  although  nominally  "in 
deference  to  public  sentiment."  Twenty-five  couples 
who  had  been  married  before  entering  the  Com- 
munity again  became  husband  and  wife,  and  twen- 
ty marriages  between  other  individuals  took  place 
within  four  months  after  the  abandonment  of  the 
stirpicultural  experiment.  There  were  then  in  the 
Community  two  hundred  and  sixteen  adults  and 
eighty-three  children  under  twenty  years  of  age. 

So  far  as  the  real  object  which  the  founder  of  the 
Oneida  Community  had  in  view  in  his  marriage 


41 


system,  it  was  undoubtedly  a  failure,  as  of  th-e  off- 
spring, in  spite  of  their  early  doctrinal  training, 
only  a  very  few  are  church  members,  and  but  one 
is  a  Perfectionist.  This  is  the  son  of  an  uncle 
and  a  niece,  both  of  Noyes'  blood.  From  a  physical 
and  intellectual  standpoint  the  experiment  would 
seem  to  have  given  promise  of  success,  but  it  con- 
tinued too  short  a  time  to  be  of  much  scientific 
value.  The  result  may  be  stated  in  the  words  of 
Mrs.  McGee,  who  says  that  the  complete  failure  to 
perpetuate  the  church  through  stirpiculture  "would 
seem  to  indicate  that,  while  our  race  would  doubt- 
less be  greatly  benefited  by  more  attention  to  laws 
of  breeding,  yet  to  attempt  promulgation  of  a  be- 
lief by  this  means  alone  is  only  to  court  defeat.  In 
spite  of  the  energy  and  magnetism  of  so  remark- 
able a  man  as  Noyes,  in  spite  of  his  long-continued 
efforts,  and  just  when  success  seemed  within  his 
grasp,  his  one  misjudgment  of  human  nature  bore 
fruit,  the  neglected  instinct  of  monogamy  arose  in 
its  might  and  crushed  to  nothing  the  whole  struc- 
ture, and  he,  the  builder,  went  last  of  all.  With 
the  close  of  his  life,  April  13,  1886,  ended  a  unique 
and  interesting  history. " 

INTERMARRIAGE. — We  have  seen  that  the  founder 
of  the  Oneida  Community  permitted  the  intermar- 
riage of  uncle  and  niece,  although  he  considered 
them  related  as  nearly  as  father  and  daughter. 


42 

This  question  of  the  intermarriage  of  near  blood 
relations  is  an  important  one  in  its  bearing  on  the 
question  of  stirpiculture,  and  as  already  mentioned, 
it  has  engaged  the  attention  of  nearly  all  the  lower 
races  of  mankind.  It  has,  indeed,  been  provided 
against  by  the  marriage  restrictions  of  most  uncul- 
tured peoples,  and  their  systems  of  relationship 
clearly  point  out  what  persons  are  within  the  per- 
mitted limits  of  marriage.  It  appears  to  be  the 
general  rule  that  the  children  of  two  brothers  or  of 
two  sisters,  whether  own  or  tribal,  cannot  inter- 
marry, but  that  the  children  of  a  brother  and  those 
of  a  sister  may  be  thus  united,  although  sometimes 
this  is  not  allowed  where  own  brother  and  sister 
are  concerned.  * 

The  question  of  the  effect  on  offspring  of  con- 
sanguineous marriages  was  some  time  ago  particu- 
larly enquired  into  by  Mr.  A.  H.  Huth,  who,  after 
a  consideration  of  all  the  information  available, 
came,  in  his  work,  "  The  Marriage  of  Near  Kin,"  to 
the  following  conclusions  : 

' '  1 — That  any  deterioration  through  the  marriage 
of  near  kin,  per  se,  even  if  there  be  such  a  thing  in 
the  lower  animals,  is  impossible  in  man,  owing  to 
the  slow  propagation  of  the  species. 


*See  Lorimer  Fison,  in  "  The  Journal  of  the  Anthropological  In- 
stitute," May,  1895,  page  361.  The  whole  subject  is  exhaustively 
treated  by  C.  Staniland  Wake,  in  his  "  Development  of  Kinship  and 
Marriage." 


43 


"2 — That  any  deterioration  through  the  chance 
accumulation  of  an  idiosyncrasy,  though  more  like- 
ly to  occur  in  families  where  the  marriage  of  blood 
relations  was  habitual,  practically  does  not  occur 
oftener  than  in  other  marriages,  or  it  would  be 
more  easily  demonstrated. 

"3 — That,  seeing  the  doubt,  to  say  the  least  of 
it,  which  exists  concerning  the  effect  for  harm  of 
marriages  between  near  kin,  and  on  the  other  hand 
the  certainty  that  whenever  and  wherever  marriage 
is  impeded  a  direct  and  proportionate  impulse  is 
given  to  the  practice  of  immorality,  it  is  advisable 
not  to  extend  the  prohibition  against  marriage  be- 
yond the  third  collateral  degree,  and  to  permit  all 
marriages  of  affinity  excepting  those  in  the  direct 
ascending  or  descending  line." 

There  appears  to  be  no  doubt  that  what  are  re- 
garded among  Christian  peoples  as  incestuous  mar- 
riages are  not  desirable.  How  far  marriage  unions 
between  first  cousins  are  advisable  depends,  as  ap- 
pears from  Mr.  Huth's  remarks,  on  considerations 
which  affect  the  question  generally.  If  there  are 
any  serious  physical,  intellectual  or  moral  defects 
on  either  side,  no  marriage  should  take  place. 

WOMAN'S  SELECTIVE  ACTION. — Apart  from  the 
question  of  consanguinity,  the  principles  which 
should  govern  all  marriages  is  that  of  sexual  selec- 
tion, which  should  have  reference,  however,  not 


merely  to  physical  characters,  but  also  to  mental 
and  moral  characteristics.  In  applying  this  princi- 
ple, it  must  be  remembered  that  while  man,  like 
the  male  of  all  animals,  does  the  courting,  woman, 
like  all  females,  makes  the  selection  ;  at  least  this 
is  the  general  rule  among  the  most  cultured  peo- 
ples. Thus  it  is  evident  that  woman  possesses  the 
power  of  largely  influencing  the  improvement  of 
the  human  race,  and  in  this  fact  we  may  see  the 
possibility  of  this  being  effected  by  the  operation  of 
general  social  causes,  without  having  recourse  to 
individual  experiments,  such  as  that  undertaken  by 
Noyes,  which  are  necessarily  limited  in  their  action, 
and  may,  after  all,  have  like  practical  result.  If 
all  women  could  be  induced  to  combine  for  that  end 
they  could  probably  bring  about  the  desired  im- 
provement by  their  own  efforts. 

On  this  subject  the  well-known  naturalist,  Mr. 
A.  R.  Wallace,  has  some  judicious  remarks  in  an 
article  on  "  Human  Progress,  Past  and  Future,"  in 
The  Arena  for  January,  1892.  Mr.  Wallace,  who 
accepts  the  views  of  Weismann  as  to  the  non-in- 
heritance of  acquired  characters,  thinks  that  the 
physical  and  moral  evils  and  degradation  attendant 
on  the  conditions  of  modern  city  life  will  have  no 
permanent  effects,  when  a  more  rational  and  ele- 
vating system  of  social  organization  is  brought 
about.  The  most  important  agency  in  this  social 
regeneration  will  be  the  selective  action  of  woman, 


under  the  influence  of  her  newly  acquired  freedom 
and  higher  education.  Says  Mr.  Wallace  :  "  When 
such  social  changes  have  been  effected  that  no 
woman  will  be  compelled,  either  by  hunger,  isola- 
tion or  social  compulsion,  to  sell  herself,  whether 
in  or  out  of  wedlock,  and  when  all  women  alike 
shall  feel  the  refining  influence  of  a  true  harmoniz- 
ing education,  of  beautiful  and  elevating  surround- 
ings, and  of  a  public  opinion  which  shall  be  found- 
ed on  the  highest  aspirations  of  their  age  and  coun- 
try, the  result  will  be  a  form  of  human  selection 
which  will  bring  about  a  continuous  advance  in  the 
average  status  of  the  race.  Under  such  conditions, 
all  who  are  deformed  either  in  body  or  mind,  though 
they  may  be  able  to  lead  happy  and  contented  lives, 
will,  as  a  rule,  leave  no  children  to  inherit  their 
deformity.  Even  now  we  find  many  women  who 
do  not  marry  because  they  have  never  found  the 
man  of  their  ideal.  When  no  woman  will  be  com- 
pelled to  marry  for  a  bare  living  or  for  a  comfort- 
able home,  those  who  remain  unmarried  from  their 
own  free  choice  will  certainly  increase  in  number, 
while  many  others,  having  no  inducement  to  an 
early  marriage,  will  wait  until  they  meet  with  a 
partner  who  is  really  congenial  to  them.  In  such 
a  reformed  society  the  vicious  man,  the  man  of  de- 
graded taste  or  of  feeble  intellect,  will  have  little 
chance  of  finding  a  wife,  and  his  bad  qualities  will 
die  out  with  himself.  The  most  perfect  and  beau- 


4G 


tiful  in  body  and  mind  will,  on  the  other  hand,  be 
most  sought  and  therefore  be  most  likely  to  marry 
early,  the  less  highly  endowed  later,  and  the  least 
gifted  in  any  way  the  latest  of  all ;  and  this  will 
be  the  case  with  both  sexes.  From  this  varying 
age  of  marriage,  as  Mr.  Galton  has  shown,  there 
will  result  a  more  rapid  increase  of  the  former  than 
of  the  latter,  and  this  cause  continuing  at  work  for 
successive  generations  will  at  length  bring  the 
average  man  to  be  the  equal  of  those  who  are  now 
among  the  more  advanced  of  the  race. " 

We  have  here  the  application  of  the  principle  of 
sexual  selection  in  its  highest  sense,  although  limit- 
ed in  action  to  women,  and  it  is  undoubtedly  the 
phase  of  stirpiculture  which  will  become  operative 
when  the  "  emancipation  of  women  "  is  completed. 
There  is  one  feature  of  modern  society  which  may 
retard  its  operation,  and  which  was  referred  to  by 
Darwin  as  interfering  with  the  physical  effect  of 
sexual  selection  in  the  past.  Wealth  is  now,  more 
than  ever  before,  an  important  factor  in  society, 
and  not  only  man's  but  woman's  choice  in  matri- 
mony is  often  governed  by  money  considerations. 
The  possession  of  wealth  may  be  evidence  of  men- 
tal astuteness,  but  not  necessarily  of  high  morality, 
and  until  it  ceases  to  be  sought  after  in  marriage  it 
will  seriously  interfere  with  the  improvement  of 
the  race  on  its  higher  planes. 

The  sexual  selection  which  Mr.  Wallace  so  ably 


advocates  is  to  be  exercised  by  woman,  and  hence 
its  efficiency  will  depend  on  the  fitness  of  woman, 
not  only  to  choose  proper  partners  in  marriage,  but 
to  communicate  the  highest  physical  and  mental 
characters  to  her  offspring.  She  can  transmit  only 
what  she  herself  possesses,  and  she  will  choose 
that  which  is  in  sympathy  with  her  own  feelings  and 
desires,  so  that  if  she  is  to  affect  the  race  bene- 
ficially, she  must  seek  first  her  own  perfection. 
Hence  the  great  importance  of  the  woman's  move- 
ment of  the  present  day,  the  basis  of  which  is  the 
better  development  of  her  physical,  mental  and 
moral  faculties,  without  which  she  cannot  expect 
to  have  the  increased  social  privileges  to  which  she 
may  aspire.  The  greatest  social  privilege  women 
can  have  is  to  be  the  chief  agent  in  the  improve- 
ment of  the  race,  and  through  it  the  regeneration 
of  society  itself.  Lady  May  Jeune,  in  reply  to 
those  who  think  that  the  present  relations  between 
mothers  and  daughters  threaten  family  disruption, 
observes,  "That  woman  was  created  for  the  pur- 
pose of  being  the  wife  and  mother  of  mankind  no 
one  can  deny,  and  that  none  of  the  discoveries  of 
science  or  any  attempt  to  solve  the  mysteries  of 
life  have  brought  her  one  bit  nearer  the  knowledge 
of  how  to  unburden  herself  of  these  responsibilities, 
is  also  a  fact."  This  must  be  true  if  the  race  is  to 
be  continued  ;  for  without  wives  there  can  be  no 
mothers.  Being  possible  mothers,  therefore,  it  is 


48 


necessary,  if  the  race  and  society  are  to  be  im- 
proved, that  women  shall  acquire  the  highest  phy- 
sical, intellectual  and  moral  education  they  are 
capable  of,  and  if  they  require  the  same  qualities 
in  their  husbands,  the  problem  we  are  considering 
will  be  solved. 

MAN'S  AND  WOMAN'S  CO-OPERATION. — We  have 
here  the  central  idea  of  the  New  Hedonism  advo- 
cated by  Mr.  Grant  Allen,  whose  views  necessitate 
the  active  agency  of  man  as  well  as  of  woman. 
This  is  only  reasonable,  seeing  that  offspring  de- 
pend on  the  co-operation  of  two  factors,  and  that 
if  either  of  them  is  defective  the  offspring  must 
share  in  the  defect.  "  Self-development  is  an  aim 
of  all,"  says  Mr.  Grant  Allen,  "  an  aim  which  will 
make  all  stronger  and  braver,  and  wiser,  and  bet- 
ter. It  will  make  each  in  the  end  more  helpful  to 
humanity.  To  be  sound  in  wind  and  limb  ;  to  be 
healthy  of  body  and  mind ;  to  be  educated,  to  be 
emancipated,  to  be  free,  to  be  beautiful — these 
things  are  ends  towards  which  all  should  strive, 
and  by  attaining  which  all  are  happier  in  them- 
selves, and  more  useful  to  others."  Hence  the  New 
Hedonism  teaches  that  "to  prepare  ourselves  for 
the  duties  of  paternity  and  maternity,  by  making 
ourselves  as  vigorous  and  healthful  as  we  can  be 
is  a  duty  we  owe  to  all  our  children  unborn  and 
to  one  another."  This  applies  as  well  to  "the  body 


spiritual,  intellectual  and  esthetic  "  as  to  the  phy- 
sical body.  Mr.  Grant  Allen  thinks  the  theory  he 
advocates  will  introduce  a  new  system,  which  "will 
not  include  the  selling  of  self  into  loveless  union 
for  a  night  or  for  a  lifetime  ;  the  bearing  of  chil- 
dren by  a  mother  to  a  man  she  despises  or  loathes 
or  shrinks  from ;  the  production  by  force,  sancti- 
fied by  law,  of  hereditary  drunkards,  hereditary 
epileptics,  hereditary  consumptives,  hereditary  crim- 
inals. We  shall  expect  in  the  future  a  purer  and 
truer  relation  between  father  and  mother,  parent 
and  child.  We  shall  expect  some  sanctity  to  at- 
tach to  the  idea  of  paternity,  some  thought  and 
care  to  be  given  beforehand  to  the  duties  of  mother- 
hood. We  will  not  admit  that  the  chance  union  of 
two  unfit  persons,  who  ought  never  to  have  made 
themselves  parents  at  all,  or  ought  never  to  have 
made  themselves  parents  with  one  another,  can  be 
rendered  holy  and  harmless  by  the  hands  of  a  priest 
extended  to  bless  a  bought  love,  or  a  bargain  of  im- 
pure marriage.  In  one  word,  for  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  the  race,  we  shall  evolve  the  totally 
new  idea  of  responsibility  in  parentage.  And  as 
part  of  this  responsibility  we  shall  include  the  two 
antithetical,  but  correlative,  doctrines  of  a  moral 
abstinence  from  fatherhood  and  motherhood  on  the 
part  of  the  unfit,  and  a  moral  obligation  to  father- 
hood and  motherhood  on  the  part  of  the  noblest, 


50 


the  purest,  the  sanest,  the  healthiest,  the  most  able 
among  us.  We  will  not  doom  to  forced  celibacy 
half  our  finest  mothers." 

THE  INDIVIDUAL'S  RIGHTS. — From  the  racial  stand- 
point these  views  are  just  and  cannot  be  contro- 
verted, but  something  must  be  allowed  to  the  indi- 
vidual. The  relative  position  and  rights  of  the  race 
and  the  individual  are  in  a  dispute,  which  has  be- 
come intensified  since  the  development  of  the  the- 
ory of  evolution.  But  the  individual  is  the  begin- 
ning of  the  race  and  he  should  be  its  end.  There- 
fore, in  seeking  to  improve  the  race,  violence  must 
not  be  done  to  the  highest  sentiments  of  the  indi- 
vidual. It  is  a  fact  that  many  highly  cultured 
individuals  have  a  repugnance  to  certain  aspects  of 
married  life,  and  this  repugnance  appears  to  be 
justified  by  the  further  fact  that  a  high  state  of 
refinement  is  often  attended  with  loss  of  physical 
productiveness.  One  of  the  most  curious  results  of 
Galton's  enquiries  into  heredity  was  that  wealthy 
families  have  a  tendency  to  die  out  in  heiresses, 
which  is  partly,  but  not  wholly,  dependent  on  the 
fact  that  childbearing  is  more  often  the  accompani- 
ment of  poverty  than  of  luxurious  living. 

The  personal  disinclination  to  marry  attendant 
on  intellectual  refinement  is  still  more  likely  to  be 
possessed  by  those  of  high  spirituality.  This  is 
quite  natural,  notwithstanding  the  statement  of 


61 


Mr.  Grant  Allen,  which  is  undoubtedly  true,  that 
the  origin  and  basis  of  all  that  is  best  and  highest 
within  us  is  to  be  found  in  the  sex-instinct.  Love 
may  have  begotten  "  all  higher  arts  and  all  higher 
customs,"  and  yet  love  may  in  the  process  itself 
become  sexless,  as  it  is  when  it  assumes  the  noblest 
form,  that  of  divine  charity  for  our  fellowmen. 
As  well  might  we  continue  to  perpetuate  in  our 
highest  actions  the  nature  of  the  ape-man  because 
we  are  descendants  of  this  creature,  as  let  the  idea 
of  sex  always  rule  our  thoughts.  With  the  indi- 
vidual the  physical  influence  of  sex  is  weakened 
and  finally  ceases,  although  it  ever  remains  con- 
stant in  the  race,  and  hence  the  influence  of  the 
idea  of  sex  over  the  mind  of  the  individual  should 
be  similarly  affected.  ' '  In  Heaven, "  said  the  founder 
of  Christianity,  "there  is  neither  marrying  nor  giv- 
ing in  marriage,"  and  in  that  highest  mental  con- 
dition, which  is  heaven  on  earth,  the  sense  of  sex 
has  ceased  to  be  operative,  having  given  place  to 
the  spiritual  sense  which  is  the  noblest  attribute  of 
man  because  the  last  to  be  developed. 

We  have  here,  however,  a  question  between  the 
individual  and  the  race,  and  it  does  not  affect  the 
main  contention  that  the  improvement  of  the  race, 
which  includes  that  of  the  individual,  is  to  be  found 
in  the  application  of  the  principle  of  selection. 
This  must  necessarily  be  chiefly  in  the  hands  of 
women,  although  both  men  and  women  must  co- 


52 


operate  to  bring  about  the  best  results,  by  seeking 
first  of  all  to  improve  their  own  natures  by  physi- 
cal, intellectual  and  moral  culture.  The  statement 
of  the  case  according  to  that  principle,  and  the  aim 
to  be  attained,  exhibit  the  dignity  and  importance 
of  the  subject  of  stirpiculture.  Theoretically  this 
is  admitted  on  all  hands,  and  as  soon  as  the  con- 
ditions of  the  subject  are  clearly  understood  there 
will  be  no  practical  difficulty  in  carrying  the  princi- 
ple into  effect,  so  that  it  may  have  its  legitimate 
consequences. 

What  parents  have  to  realize  is  the  necessity  of 
so  training  and  instructing  their  children  that  they 
may  become  capable  of  being  the  parents  of  perfect 
offspring.  The  good  tree  only  can  bear  good  fruit. 
But  this  is  not  the  real  starting  point  of  stirpi- 
culture. An  essential  factor,  and  one  that  is  sel- 
dom thought  of,  is  the  spirit  in  which  the  Inception 
of  offspring  is  undertaken.  Marriage  was  to  the 
ancients  a  sacred  state,  because  it  was  associated 
with  the  religion  of  the  domestic  altar,  and  because 
the  perpetuation  of  the  family,  which  was  its  aim, 
was  required  by  the  necessity  of  having  a  son  to 
perform  the  sacred  rites  at  that  altar  after  the 
death  of  his  father.  The  perpetuation  of  the  family 
was  thus  a  sacred  duty,  and  the  consummation  of 
marriage  partook  of  this  character.  According  to 
the  ancient  Persian  religion,  the  union  of  man  and 
woman  is  the  act  most  agreeable  to  God,  and  the 


53 

act  of  consummation  is  directed  to  be  sanctified, 
and  a  prayer  directed  to  God  that  He  would  bless 
it.  Marriage  must  be  conducted  in  this  spirit, 
rather  than  as  a  means  of  gratifying  the  passions, 
if  the  happiest  results  are  to  be  obtained  from  the 
application  of  the  principle  of  sexual  selection. 

SPIRITUAL  SYMPATHY  IN  MARRIAGE. — That  sup- 
poses, however,  the  existence  of  spiritual  sympathy 
between  those  who  are  united  in  marriage,  and 
this  sympathy  must  form  the  true  basis  of  all  im- 
provements in  the  race.  It  was  the  neglect  of  this 
feature,  the  want  of  which  must  render  any  at- 
tempt to  carry  out  Plato's  ideas  on  the  subject  of 
marriage  futile,  that  put  a  stop  to  the  experiments 
undertaken  by  his  latest  imitator,  Noyes.  His  ad- 
herents simply  made  a  return  to  the  monogamy 
which  is  the  heritage  of  all  the  Aryan  peoples,  and 
which  is  based  on  the  union  of  two  hearts,  and  not 
merely  of  two  persons.  This  is  the  first  applica- 
tion of  the  principle  of  sexual  selection  above  the 
animal  plane,  and  it  must  be  continued  notwith- 
standing that  the  range  of  selection  is  extended  so 
as  to  embrace  also  the  intellectual  and  moral  planes. 

How  far  the  State  may  ultimately  be  called  on 
to  aid  in  the  improvement  of  the  race,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  ideas  we  have  been  considering,  is 
doubtful.  It  can  aid  very  materially  in  placing  re- 
straints on  too  early  marriage,  and  by  insisting  on 


54 

the  attainment  of  a  proper  standard  of  physical 
training  and  of  mental  culture  before  marriage  is 
entered  on.  There  is  no  reason,  moreover,  why  the 
State  should  not  interfere  to  prevent  the  marriage 
of  those  who  are  too  near  of  kin,  or  who  by  reason 
of  physical  or  mental  ailment,  or  by  their  moral 
defects  are  not  fit  subjects  for  the  propagation  of 
the  race.  The  objection  to  this  interference  with 
personal  liberty  is  so  strong,  however,  that  even  so 
rational  a  procedure  as  preventing  the  spread, 
through  marriage  alliances,  of  disease  and  crime 
cannot  yet  obtain  the  sanction  of  public  opinion. 
This  will  be  educated  with  the  general  improve- 
ment of  the  race  that  must  gradually  take  place 
through  other  agencies,  and  then  the  State  will 
have  merely  to  carry  into  effect  the  decrees  of  the 
people,  which  will  be  expressed  in  no  uncertain 
language  when  woman  has  attained  to  the  influ- 
ence to  which  her  own  perfected  condition  will  en- 
title her. 


PRENATAL  CULTURE. 


In  the  last  preceding  chapter  we  have  considered 
the  subject  of  the  improvement  of  the  race,  es- 
pecially through  the  action  of  sexual  selection,  or, 
as  it  may  be  expressed,  selective  action  in  the  pair- 
ing of  individuals,  whether  brought  about  compul- 
sorily  by  the  controlling  influence  of  the  State  or 
some  other  external  authority,  or  by  the  actual 
choice  of  one  or  both  of  the  individuals  immedi- 
ately concerned.  We  have  now  to  deal  with  the 
subject  of  the  influence  over  offspring  of  affections 
of  the  individual  organisms  from  whose  union  such 
offspring  is  derived. 

JACOB'S  FLOCKS. — The  story  of  Jacob  dealing  with 
the  flocks  of  Laban,  given  in  Genesis  xxx,  is  usual- 
ly alluded  to  in  corroboration  of  the  belief  that  off- 
spring may  be  physically  affected  before  birth,  by 
anything  which  strongly  influences  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  mother.  Jacob  is  represented  as  mak- 
ing an  agreement  with  Laban,  his  father-in-law, 
that  Jacob  should  receive  as  his  hire  all  the  ring- 
streaked  and  spotted  he-goats  and  all  the  black  she- 
goats,  and  also  those  that  were  speckled  and  spot- 


5G 


ted.  When  this  arrangement  had  been  made,  La- 
ban  sought  to  benefit  by  it  by  removing  from  the 
flock  all  the  goats  that  answered  to  that  descrip- 
tion, and  giving  them  into  the  care  of  his  sons, 
leaving  the  rest  of  the  flock  in  Jacob's  charge. 
This  was  undoubtedly  an  attempt  on  the  part  of 
Laban  to  cheat  his  son-in-law  out  of  his  wages, 
but  the  latter  was  not  to  be  so  cheated,  and  he 
adopted  a  plan  which  gave  him  the  pick  of  the 
flock,  leaving  the  feeble  goats  to  his  less  wily 
parent. 

In  describing  this  operation,  the  Bible  story  says : 
"And  Jacob  took  him  rods  of  fresh  poplar  [or 
storax  tree]  and  of  the  almond  and  of  the  plane 
tree,  and  peeled  white  streaks  in  them,  and  made 
the  white  appear  which  was  in  the  rods.  And  he 
set  the  rods  which  he  had  peeled  over  against  the 
flocks  in  the  gutters  in  the  watering  troughs  where 
the  flocks  came  to  drink  ;  and  they  conceived  when 
they  came  to  drink.  And  the  flocks  conceived  be- 
fore the  rods,  and  the  flocks  brought  forth  ring- 
streaked,  speckled  and  spotted.  And  Jacob  separ- 
ated the  lambs,  and  set  the  faces  of  the  flocks 
toward  the  ringstreaked  and  all  the  black  in  the 
flock  of  Laban  ;  and  he  put  his  own  droves  apart, 
and  put  them  not  unto  Laban's  flock.  And  it  came 
to  pass,  whensoever  the  stronger  of  the  flock  did 
conceive,  that  Jacob  laid  the  rods  before  the  eyes 
of  the  flock  in  the  gutters,  that  they  might  con- 


57 


ceive  among  the  rods  ;  but  when  the  flock  were 
feeble,  he  put  them  not  in :  so  the  feebler  were  La- 
ban's,  and  the  stronger  Jacob's." 

Whether  or  not  this  incident  actually  occurred 
as  stated  we  do  not  know.  According  to  the  sub- 
sequent part  of  the  narrative,  the  effect  of  setting 
up  the  peeled  rods  was  ascribed  to  God's  interfer- 
ence in  his  behalf;  but  it  is  not  improbable  that 
we  have  in  the  story  a  reference  to  ancient  shep- 
herd lore,  based  on  the  superstitious  notions  still 
so  common  in  the  East.  In  the  earlier  part  of  the 
same  chapter  is  a  story  relating  to  mandrakes, 
which  were  supposed  to  have  influence  on  human 
generation.  Jacob  is  said  to  have  used  three  kinds 
of  rods,  those  of  the  poplar  or  storax  tree,  the  al- 
mond, and  the  plane  tree,  which  produced  ring- 
streaked,  speckled  and  spotted  lambs. 

The  influence  exerted  by  Jacob's  rods  was  of  a 
different  character  from  that  which  is  supposed  to 
give  rise  to  the  marking  of  offspring  before  birth, 
which  is  not  uncommon  if  we  are  to  accept  as  true 
all  the  cases  mentioned  in  books  referring  to  the 
subject.  What  occurred  took  place  before  concep- 
tion, and  not  subsequent  to  it,  as  in  these  cases. 
Nevertheless,  both  classes  of  phenomena  are  recog- 
nized by  so  competent  an  authority  as  M.  Th.  Ri- 
bot,  who,  in  his  "  Heredity,"  *  when  criticising  Dr. 

*" Heredity."  By  Th.  Ribot  (New  York:  D.  Appleton  &  Co., 
1875).  p.  201. 


58 

Lucas'  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  numerous 
exceptions  to  the  law  of  heredity,  as  being  due  to 
the  operation  of  the  law  of  spontaneity,  affirms 
that  there  is  no  law  of  spontaneity,  but  that  all 
such  exceptions  may  be  explained  by  reference  to 
certain  causes  of  diversity.  M.  Bibot  gives  three 
causes  of  diversity,  which  are :  1 — Antagonistic 
heredities  of  two  parents ;  2 — Accidental  causes  in 
action  at  the  moment  of  generation  ;  3 — External 
and  internal  influences  subsequent  to  conception. 
He  assigns  but  little  importance  to  causes  acting 
after  birth,  such  as  diet,  climate,  circumstances, 
education,  physical  and  moral  influences,  because, 
though  they  may  produce  serious  effects,  these  are 
not  radical.  Possibly,  however,  since  the  advance 
made  in  the  education  of  those  who  are  born  with 
defects  of  the  sensory  apparatus,  M.  Ribot  would 
somewhat  modify  his  opinion  on  that  point.  As  to 
the  causes  which  operate  at  the  period  of  concep- 
tion, or  subsequent  thereto  and  before  birth,  he 
says,  in  relation  to  the  latter  class,  they  "are  all 
the  physical  and  moral  disturbances  of  uterine  ex- 
istence— all  those  influences  which  can  act  through 
the  mother  upon  the  fetus  during  the  period  of  ges- 
tation ;  impressions,  emotions,  defective  nutrition, 
effects  of  imagination."  He  adds:  "  These  causes 
are  very  real,  despite  the  objections  of  Lucas,  who 
attacks  them  in  order  to  establish  his  law  of  spon- 
taneity. We  see  from  examples  that  between  con- 


59 


siderable  causes  and  their  effects  there  exists  an 
amazing  disproportion. " 

The  causes  of  diversity  which  operate  at  the  in- 
stant of  conception  depend,  says  Ribot,  "less  upon 
the  physical  and  moral  natures  of  the  parents  than 
on  the  particular  state  in  which  they  are  at  the 
moment  of  procreation."  This  fact  is  referred  to 
by  M.  de  Quatrefages  as  fully  proving  the  univers- 
ality of  the  law  of  heredity,  and  M.  Ribot  adds, 
"It  enables  us  to  understand  that  those  transitory 
states  which  exist  at  the  moment  of  conception 
may  exert  a  decisive  influence  on  the  nature  of  the 
being  procreated,  so  that  often,  where  now  we  see 
only  spontaneity,  a  more  perfect  knowledge  of  the 
causes  at  work  would  show  us  heredity." 

Professor  E.  D.  Cope,  the  well-known  author  of 
"The  Origin  of  the  Fittest,"  would  seem  to  doubt 
the  truth  of  the  stories  of  birthmarks  on  the  ground 
that  "the  effect  of  temporary  impressions  on  the 
mother  is  not  strong  enough  to  counterbalance  the 
molecular  structure  established  by  impressions  of- 
tener  repeated  throughout  much  longer  periods  of 
time."*  And  yet  there  is  no  doubt  that  birth- 
marks do  occasionally  occur,  although  it  is  very 
difficult  to  obtain  properly  authenticated  cases  of 
them. 


*  "The  Origin  of  the  Fittest."    By  E.  D.  Cope  (D.  Appleton  &  Co., 
New  York).     Page  408. 


60 


AN  ILLUSTRATIVE  CASE. — How  great  is  the  influ- 
ence on  unborn  offspring  of  the  mother's  mental 
condition,  as  well  as  the  effect  over  them  of  pleas- 
ant surroundings,  is  shown  by  the  following  case. 
A  young  girl  attracted  attention  by  her  beauty  and 
by  the  superiority  of  the  type  she  exhibited  over 
that  of  either  of  her  parents,  and  on  her  mother 
being  spoken  to  on  the  subject  she  remarked: 

"In  my  early  married  life  my  husband  and  I 
learned  how  to  live  in  holy  relations,  after  God's  or- 
dinance.    My  husband  lovingly  consented  to  let  me 
live  apart  from  him  during  the  time  I  carried  this 
little  daughter  under  my  heart,  and  also  while  I  was 
nursing  her.     Those  were  the  happiest  days  of  my 
life.     Every  day  before  my  child  was  born,  I  could 
have  hugged  myself  with  delight  at  the  prospect  of 
becoming  a  mother.     My  husband  and  I  were  never 
so  tenderly,  so  harmoniously,  or  so  happily  related 
to  each  other,  and  I  never  loved  him  more  deeply 
than   during  those  blessed   months.      I   was    sur- 
rounded by  all  beautiful  things,  and  one  picture  of 
a  lovely  face  was  especially  in  my  thought.      My 
daughter  looks  more  like  that  picture  than  she  does 
like  either  of  us.     From  the  time  she  was1>orn  she 
was  like  an  exquisite  rosebud — the  flower  of  pure, 
sanctified,  happy  love.     She  never  cried  at  night, 
was  never  fretful  or  nervous,  but  was  all  smiles 
and   winning  baby   ways,    filling   our    hearts  and 
home  with  perpetual  gladness.     To  this  day,  and 


Gl 


she  is  now  fourteen  years  old,  I  have  never  had 
the  slightest  difficulty  in  bringing  her  up.  She 
turns  naturally  to  the  right,  and  I  never  knew  her 
to  be  cross  or  impatient  or  hard  to  manage.  She 
has  given  me  only  comfort ;  and  I  realize  from  an 
experience  of  just  the  opposite  nature  that  the  rea- 
son of  all  this  is  because  my  little  girl  had  her 
birthright." 

The  future  experience  of  this  lady  was,  however, 
of  a  very  different  nature.  She  added : 

"  A  few  years  later  I  was  again  about  to  become 
a  mother,  but  with  what  different  feelings  !  My 
husband  had  become  contaminated  with  the  popu- 
lar idea  that  even  more  and  frequent  relations  were 
permissible  during  pregnancy.  I  was  powerless 
against  this  wicked  sophistry,  and  was  obliged  to 
yield  to  his  constant  desires.  But  how  I  suffered 
and  cried  ;  how  wretched  I  was  ;  how  nervous  and 
almost  despairing !  Worst  of  all,  I  felt  my  love 
and  trusting  faith  turning  to  dread  and  repulsion. 

' '  My  little  boy,  on  whom  my  husband  set  high 
hopes,  was  born  after  nine  of  the  most  unhappy, 
distressing  months  of  my  life,  a  sickly,  nervous, 
fretting  child — myself  in  miniature,  and  after  five 
years  of  life  that  was  predestined  by  all  the  cir- 
cumstances to  be  just  what  it  was,  after  giving  us 
only  anxiety  and  care,  he  died,  leaving  us  sadder 
and  wiser. 

"  I  have  demonstrated  to  my  own  abundant  satis- 


G2 


faction  that  there  is  but  one  right,  God-given  way 
to  beget  and  rear  children,  and  I  know  that  I  am 
only  one  of  many  who  can  corroborate  this  testi- 
mony." 

The  following  case  of  prenatal  culture  appeared 
in  The  Philospliical  Journal  for  October  5,  1895, 
above  the  signature  of  "  John  Allyn,"  who  says  : 

"  About  forty  years  ago  I  was  a  neighbor  of  a 
young  couple  who  had  been  recently  married. 
They  were  of  fair  natural  abilities,  but  not  highly 
educated.  The  wife  could  play  on  the  piano  well 
and  accompany  it  with  her  voice.  The  husband 
was  a  house-building  contractor.  Before  their  first 
child  was  born  the  wife  was  provided  with  instru- 
ments for  drawing,  and  interested  herself  in  their 
use  and  mathematical  calculations  connected  with 
them.  The  child  proved  to  be  a  boy,  who  took  to 
architectural  drawing  as  by  instinct.  With  very 
little  effort  he  became  proficient,  and  is  now  em- 
ployed at  a  high  salary  by  the  Southern  Pacific 
Railroad  as  their  architect. 

' '  Some  years  later,  before  the  second  child  was 
born,  the  mother  interested  herself  with  music  with 
reference  to  the  effect  it  would  have  on  the  unborn 
child.  This  child  proved  to  be  a  girl,  who  is  now 
an  expert  singer,  finding  ready  employment  in 
opera  companies.  Though  not  a  star,  she  has  a 
superior  talent  for  music  which  enabled  her  to  take 
advantages  of  musical  training  easily." 


BELIEFS  OF  PRIMITIVE  PEOPLES. — Whenever  such 
cases  happen,  it  is  under  the  influence  of  some  very 
strong  emotion,  during  the  period  of  gestation, 
arising  from  the  action  on  the  nervous  system  of 
the  mother  by  an  external  object  presented  to  the 
sight,  the  organ  of  which  would  seem  to  have  an 
intimate  association  with  the  general  muscular  sys- 
tem. There  is  nothing  to  show  that  primitive  peo- 
ples recognized  the  action  of  prenatal  influence 
through  the  senses  ;  but  there  is  a  very  curious  cus- 
tom, which  is  so  widespread  at  the  present  time  that 
we  may  well  suppose  it  to  have  been  formerly 
almost  universal,  dependent  upon  the  imagined 
effect  of  the  eating  of  animal  flesh.  All  primitive 
peoples  believe  that  a  man  acquires  physical  or 
mental  characteristics  from  animals  of  whose  flesh 
he  partakes.  Cannibalism  is  closely  connected  with 
this  notion,  as  the  man  who  eats  part  of  the 
body  of  a  foe  is  thought  to  become  endowed  with 
the  victim's  courage,  strength  or  other  special 
quality.  Probably  the  Mosaic  regulations  as  to  un- 
clean animals,  that  is,  animals  unfit  for  food,  was 
based  on  such  an  idea;  and  certainly  the  command 
to  abstain  from  eating  blood  was  thus  connected; 
as  we  are  told  the  blood  is  the  life,  and  if  so,  then 
it  must  be  the  carrier  of  vital  influences. 

The  custom  above  referred  to,  which  is  known  to 
ethnologists  as  la  couvade,  or  "  hatching,"  sup- 
poses injurious  action  on  the  organism  of  the  child 


64 


of  food  eaten  by  its  parents,  as  appears  from  the 
facts  brought  together  by  Dr.  E.  B.  Tylor  in  his 
"Researches  into  the  Early  History  of  Mankind." 
The  couvade  usually  has  reference  to  the  period 
immediately  following  the  birth  of  a  child;  but 
among  the  native  tribes  of  South  America,  where 
it  is  more  extensively  prevalent  than  elsewhere, 
it  is  observed  while  the  child  is  still  unborn.  Thus, 
in  Brazil,  according  to  Von  Martius,  "A  strict 
regimen  is  preserved  before  the  birth ;  the  man  and 
the  woman  refrain  for  a  time  from  the  flesh  of  cer- 
tain animals,  and  live  chiefly  on  fish  and  fruits." 
The  peculiarity  of  the  couvade  custom,  and  that 
which  gives  it  its  special  interest,  is  the  fact  that 
it  usually  concerns  the  father  and  not  the  mother, 
as  injury  to  the  child  is  supposed  to  be  due  to  the 
conduct  of  the  former  rather  than  of  the  latter. 
Thus,  among  the  Land  Dyaks  of  Borneo,  "The 
husband,  before  the  birth  of  his  child,  may  do  no 
work  with  a  sharp  instrument,  except  what  is 
necessary  for  the  farm;  nor  may  he  fire  guns,  nor 
strike  animals,  nor  do  any  violent  work,  lest  bad 
influences  should  affect  the  child;  and  after  it  is 
born  the  father  is  kept  in  seclusion  indoors  for 
several  days,  and  dieted  on  rice  and  salt,  to  pre- 
vent not  his  own  but  his  child's  stomach  from 
swelling." 

Here  food  abstinence  takes  place  after  the  birth 
of   the  child,   but,   according  to  Brett,   in  Guinea 


65 


4 'Some  of  the  Acawois  and  Caribi  nations,  when 
they  have  reason  to  expect  an  increase  of  their 
families  consider  themselves  bound  to  abstain  from 
certain  kinds  of  meat,  lest  the  expected  child 
should,  in  some  mysterious  way,  be  injured  by  the 
partaking  of  it.  The  acouri  (or  agouti)  is  thus 
tabooed,  lest,  like  that  little  animal,  the  child 
should  be  meager ;  the  haimara,  also,  lest  it  should 
be  blind — the  outer  coating  of  the  eye  of  the  fish 
suggesting  film  or  cataract ;  the  labba,  lest  the 
infant's  mouth  should  protrude  like  the  labba's,  or 
lest  it  be  spotted  like  the  labba,  which  spots  would 
ultimately  become  sores." 

Another  related  case,  of  more  recent  observation, 
is  that  of  the  Motumotu  of  New  Guinea,  who  say 
that  after  conception  the  mother  must  not  eat 
sweet  potato  or  taro,  lest  the  head  of  the  child 
grow  out  of  proportion,  and  the  father  must  not 
eat  crocodile  or  several  kinds  of  fish,  lest  the  child's 
legs  grow  out  of  proportion.  At  Suan,  a  husband 
shuts  himself  up  for  some  days  after  the  birth  of 
his  first  child,  and  will  eat  nothing.  * 

Various  explanations  of  the  custom  of  couvade 
have  been  offered,  and  probably  C.  Staniland  Wake 
is  right  when  he  states  that  it  is  connected  with  the 
idea  that  the  father  is  the  real  source  of  the  child's 


*  "  Pioneering  in  New  Guinea."      By   James   Chalmers.      1887. 
Page  165. 


life.*  As  he  points  out,  on  the  authority  of  M. 
Girard-Teulon,  among  the  European  Basques,  even 
at  the  present  day,  a  husband  enters  his  wife's 
abode  only  "for  the  purpose  of  reproduction,  and 
to  work  for  the  benefit  of  his  wife. "  Mr.  Wake  re- 
marks that,  "With  some  of  the  Brazilian  tribes, 
when  a  man  becomes  a  father  he  goes  to  bed  in- 
stead of  his  wife,  and  all  the  women  o  f  the  village 
come  to  console  him  "for  the  pain  and  suffering 
he  has  had  in  making  this  child."  This  agrees  with 
the  idea  entertained  by  so  many  peoples  that  the 
child  is  derived  from  the  father  only,  the  mother 
being  merely  its  nourisher.  When  such  an  idea  is 
held,  it  is  not  surprising  if,  as  among  the  Abipones, 
the  belief  is  formed  that  "  the  father's  carelessness 
influences  the  new-born  offspring,  from  a  natural 
bond  and  sympathy  of  both,"  or  if  the  father  ab- 
stains, either  before  or  after  the  child's  birth,  from 
eating  any  food,  or  performing  ^any  actions  which 
are  thought  capable  of  doing  it  harm.  Still  more 
so,  if  the  child  is  regarded,  as  is  sometimes  the 
case,  as  the  reincarnation  of  the  father,  a  notion 
which  is  supported  by  the  fact,  pointed  out  by  Mr. 
Gerald  Massey,  that  in  the  couvade  the  parent 
identifies  himself  with  the  infant  child,  into  which 
he  has  been  typically  transformed. 

*  "Development  of  Kinship  and  Marriage."    Page  264. 


67 


That  conclusion  agrees  with  the  opinion  expressed 
by  Mr.  Tylor,  that  the  couvade  "implicitly  denies 
that  physical  separation  of  *  individuals '  which  a 
civilized  man  would  probably  set  down  as  a  first 
principle  common  by  nature  to  all  mankind.  .  .  . 
It  shows  us  a  number  of  distinct  and  distant  tribes 
deliberately  holding  the  opinion  that  the  connec- 
tion between  father  and  child  is  not  only,  as  we 
think,  a  mere  relation  of  parentage,  affection,  duty, 
but  that  their  very  bodies  are  joined  by  a  physical 
bond,  so  that  what  is  done  to  the  one  acts  directly 
upon  the  other. "  *  The  couvade  custom  is  thus 
closely  connected  with  the  question  of  the  special 
relationship  of  a  child  to  one  or  other  of  its  parents. 
Curious  notions  on  this  subject  have  been  formed 
from  time  to  time;  but  the  ancients  almost  uni- 
versally entertained  the  idea  held  by  the  Greeks 
that  "the  father,  as  endowed  with  creative  power, 
was  clothed  with  the  divine  character,  but  not  the 
mother,  who  was  only  the  bearer  and  nourisher  of 
the  child."  Professor  Hearn  accepts  this  view  in 
his  work,  "The  Aryan  Household,"  and  suggests 
as  the  Aryan  thought  on  the  subject:  "A  male 
was  the  first  founder  of  the  house.  His  descend- 
ants have  'the  nature  of  the  same  blood'  as  he. 
They,  in  common,  possess  the  same  mysterious 


*  "  Researches  into  the  Early  History  of  Mankind,"    Page  292. 


68 


principle  of  life.  The  life  spark,  so  to  speak,  has 
been  once  kindled,  and  its  identity,  in  all  its  trans- 
missions, must  be  preserved.  But  the  father  is  the 
life-giver.  He  alone  transmits  the  life  spark,  which 
from  his  father  he  received.  The  daughter  re- 
ceives, indeed,  the  principle  of  life,  but  she  cannot 
transmit  it." 

M.  Ribot,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  endorses  the 
popular  belief  as  to  the  possibility  of  the  fetus  be- 
ing affected,  during  uterine  existence,  through  the 
organism  of  the  mother,  reduces  all  the  obscure 
causes  of  deviation  from  heredity  to  two  classes. 
Of  these,  the  first  is  the  disproportion  of  effects  to 
causes,  already  mentioned;  and  the  second  is  the 
transformation  of  heredity.  As  to  the  first  of  these 
causes,  he  lays  it  down  as  a  general  truth  that 
"the  more  complicated  the  mechanism,  the  greater 
the  disproportion  between  accidental  causes  and 
their  effects."  He  supports  this  conclusion  by  refer- 
ence to  Geoffroy  Saint-Hilaire's  researches  on  the 
production  of  monsters,  and  he  affirms  that  the  dis- 
proportion between  cause  and  effect  cannot  be  fore- 
seen by  measuring,  but  is  known  only  by  experi- 
ence, as  "  psychological  laws  are  analogous  now  to 
mechanical  and  now  to  chemical  laws,"  so  that  it 
is  impossible  to  proceed  by  deduction  from  causes 
to  effects.  (Page  207.) 

BIRTHMARKS  RARE. — And  yet  the  very  fact  that 
cases  of  birthmarks  are  comparatively  rare,  proves 


69 


the  greatly  preponderating  influence  of    heredity 
over  the  constitution  of  the  offspring,  modified  by 
the  disposition  of  the  parents  at  the  time  of  pro- 
creation.    Professor  Cope  has  some  explanatory  re- 
marks on  that  subject  which  deserve  quotation. 
He    says — after  referring  to  the  hypothesis    that 
growth-force  may  be,  through  the  motive  force  of 
the  animal,  directed  to  any  locality,  whether  the 
commencement  of  an  executive  organ  has  begun  or 
not — that  "  A  difficulty  in  the  way  of  this  hypothe- 
sis is  the  frequently  unyielding  character  of  the 
structure  of  adult  animals,  and  the  difficulty  of 
bringing  sufficient  pressure  to  bear  on  them  with- 
out destroying  life.     But,  in  fact,  the  modifications 
must,   in  most  instances,   take  place    during    the 
period  of  growth.     It  is  well  known  that  the  men- 
tal characteristics  of  the  father  are  transmitted 
through  the  spermatozoid,  and  that,  therefore,  the 
molecular  movements  which  produce  the  mechan- 
ism of  such  mental  characters  must  exist  in  the 
spermatozoid.     But  the  material  of  the  spermato- 
zoid is  combined  with  that  of  the  ovum,  and  the 
embryo  is  compounded  of  the  animal  contents  of 
both  bodies.     In  a  wonderful  way  the  embryo  de- 
velops into  a  being  which  resembles  one  or  both 
parents  in  minute  details.     This  result  is  evidently 
determined  by  the  molecular  and  dynamic  charac- 
ter of  the  original  reproductive  cells  which  neces- 
sarily communicate  their  properties  to  the  embryo 


70 

which  is  produced  by  their  subdivisions."  Profes- 
sor Cope  goes  on  to  say,  "  Richard  Bering  has  iden- 
tified this  property  of  the  original  cells  with  the 
faculty  of  memory.  This  is  a  brilliant  thought, 
and,  under  restriction,  probably  correct.  The  sen- 
sations of  persons  who  have  suffered  amputation 
show  that  their  sensorium  maintained  a  picture  or 
map  of  the  body  so  far  as  regards  the  location  of 
all  its  sensitive  regions.  This  simulcrum  is  invest- 
ed with  consciousness  whenever  the  proper  stimu- 
lus is  applied,  and  the  character  of  the  stimulus  is 
fixed  by  it.  This  picture  probably  resides  in  many 
of  the  cells,  both  sensory  and  motor,  and  it  proba- 
bly does  so  in  the  few  cells  of  simple  and  low  forms 
of  life.  The  spermatozoid  is  such  a  cell,  and,  how 
or  why  we  know  not,  also  contains  such  an  arrange- 
ment of  its  contents,  and  contains  and  communi- 
cates such  a  type  of  force.  It  is  probable  that  in 
the  brain-cell  this  is  the  condition  of  memory  of 
locality.  If,  now,  an  intense  and  long-continued 
pressure  of  stimulus  produces  an  unconscious  pic- 
ture of  some  organ  of  the  body  in  the  mind,  there 
is  reason  to  suppose  that  the  energies  communi- 
cated to  the  embryo  by  the  spermatozoid  and  ovum 
will  partake  of  the  memory  thus  created.  The 
only  reason  why  the  oft-repeated  stories  of  birth- 
marks are  so  often  untrue,  is  because  the  effect  of 
temporary  impressions  on  the  mother  is  not  strong 
enough  to  counterbalance  the  molecular  structure 


71 


established  by  impressions  often  repeated  through- 
out much  larger  periods  of  time."  * 

WHY  CHILDREN  RESEMBLE  PARENTS. — That  chil- 
dren reproduce  the  general  and  physical  and  men- 
tal characteristics  of  their  parents  in  combination 
is  unquestionable  truth,  although  the  particular 
mode  in  which  they  are  communicated  is  yet  un- 
determined, notwithstanding  the  fact  mentioned  by 
Professor  Cope  that  they  are  somehow  conveyed 
by  the  microscopic  sperm  and  germ  in  the  union 
of  which  the  new  being  has  its  beginning.  Thus 
every  individual  must  possess  the  general  charac- 
teristics of  the  primitive  human  family  from  which 
through  a  vast  number  of  ancestors  he  has  de- 
scended. And  yet  at  every  stage  of  descent  the 
organism  may  have  obtained  fresh  characters,  or 
at  least  have  undergone  some  modification.  As  re- 
marked by  Dr.  G.  H.  Th.  Eimer,  "  Every  charac- 
ter which  must  have  been  formed  through  the  ac- 
tivity of  the  organism  is  an  acquired  character. 
All  characters,  therefore,  which  have  been  devel- 
oped by  exertion  are  acquired,  and  these  characters 
are  inherited  from  generation  to  generation.  The 
same  holds  for  all  organs  atrophied  through  dis- 
ease— the  degree  of  atrophy  is  acquired  and  in- 
herited. In  the  first  class  we  see  especially  the 


*  Cope's    "Origin  of  the  Fittest."      (Redway,   London.      1889.) 
Page  407. 


72 

action  of  direct  adaptation ;  in  the  second,  the  re- 
sults of  the  cessation  of  the  action.  A  third  class 
of  acquired  characters  is  to  be  traced  simply  to 
the  immediate  action  of  the  environment  on  the 
organism,  and,  originally,  at  the  commencement  of 
their  appearance,  all  characters  must  have  belonged 
to  this  class. "  *  We  have  here  a  general  argument 
in  opposition  to  the  theory  propounded  by  Profes- 
sor Weismann,  that  acquired  characters  are  not 
transmissible.  Elsewhere  (page  382)  Dr.  Eimer  ob- 
serves :  "Phyletic  growth,  or  the  evolution  of  the 
organic  world  ever  into  higher  and  more  complex 
forms,  or  at  least  into  forms  of  different  structure, 
is,  as  I  have  said,  merely  the  sum  of  the  processes 
of  growth  of  the  ancestors — together  with  the  re- 
sult of  external  influences  on  the  forms  during  their 
development  and  their  existence.  This  additional 
modification  which  the  individuals  as  such  undergo 
is — together  with  the  influence  of  crossing — the 
very  cause  of  the  constantly  progressing  evolution. 
All  that  the  members  of  a  series  of  individuals 
directly  connected  by  descent  acquire  constitutes 
together  the  material  for  the  formation  of  a  new 
species." 

LIFE'S  EXPERIENCES  AFFECTING  CHILD. — Unless 
characteristics  acquired  by  an  individual,  that  is, 

*  "  Organic  Evolution."    Translated  by  J.  T.  Cunningham,  M.  A. 
(London,  Macmillan  &  Co.,  1890.)    Page  «ti. 


73 


the  modifications  of  the  organism  due  to  his  own 
life  experiences,  are  capable  of  being  handed  down 
to  his  offspring,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  any  prog- 
ress could  be  made  in  the  development  of  the  race. 
Weismann's  declaration  that  acquired  characters 
are  not  transmissible  was  a  surprise  to  the  scientific 
world  when  first  made,  but  it  has  been  accepted  by 
many  Darwinians.  His  conclusion  is  dependent  on 
his  doctrine  of  heredity,  which  differs  from  that 
propounded  by  Darwin,  but  is  by  no  means  new ; 
as  its  leading  ideas,  as  pointed  out  by  Professor 
G.  J.  Romanes,*  are  largely  a  reproduction  of  those 
of  Mr.  Francis  Galton,  whose  work  on  heredity  at- 
tracted much  attention  when  first  published.  The 
views  of  Darwin,  Galton  and  Weismann  on  that 
subject  have  been  compared  by  Professor  Romanes, 
who  explains  the  distinction  between  them.  He 
says  (page  133),  after  referring  to  the  supposed  con- 
tinuity of  the  germ-plasm,  common  to  the  theories 
of  Galton  and  Weismann,  but  not  required  by  that 
of  Darwin,  "  The  three  theories  may  be  ranked 
thus — The  particulate  elements  of  heredity  all  pro- 
ceed centripetally  from  somatic-cells  to  germ-cells 
(gemmules) :  the  inheritance  of  acquired  characters 
is  therefore  habitual. 

"  These  particulate  elements  proceed  for  the  most 


*  "Examination  of  Weismannism."     The  Open  Court  Publishing 
Co.,  Chicago.    1893. 


74 

part,  though  not  exclusively,  from  germ-cells  to 
somatic-cells  (stirp):  the  inheritance  of  acquired 
characters  is  therefore  but  occasional. 

' '  The  elements  in  question  proceed  exclusively  in 
the  centrifugal  direction  last  mentioned  (germ- 
plasm):  the  inheritance  of  acquired  characters  is 
therefore  impossible." 

The  first  of  these  theories  is  that  of  Darwin,  and 
the  last  that  of  Weismann,  whose  notion  of  the 
continuity  of  germ-plasm  supposes  that  no  part  of 
an  organism  generates  any  of  the  formative  mate- 
rial which  goes  to  make  up  its  offspring.  This 
material  is  regarded  in  much  the  same  light  as  the 
sperm  which  the  male  parent  confides  to  the  keep- 
ing of  the  female,  according  to  the  notion  of  the 
ancient  world  above  referred  to.  For,  as  Romanes 
states  (page  26):  "  In  each  generation  a  small  por- 
tion of  this  substance  [germ-plasm]  is  told  off  to 
develop  a  new  body  to  lodge  and  nourish  the  ever- 
growing and  never-dying  germ-plasm — this  new 
body,  therefore,  resembling  its  so-called  parent 
body  simply  because  it  has  been  developed  from 
one  and  the  same  mass  of  formative  material ;  and, 
lastly,  that  this  formative  material,  or  germ-plasm, 
has  been  continuous  through  all  generations  of  suc- 
cessively perishing  bodies,  which  therefore  stand  to 
it  in  much  the  same  relation  as  annual  shoots  to  a 
perennial  stem:  the  shoots  resemble  one  another 


simply  because  they  are  all  grown  from  one  and 
the  same  stock." 

Although  Professor  Weismann  denies  that  ac- 
quired characters,  that  is,  individual  peculiarities 
arising  as  the  result  of  personal  experience,  are 
transmitted,  he  admits  that  congenital  characters, 
that  is,  peculiarities  with  which  an  individual  is 
born,  are  transmitted  to  offspring.  As  congenital 
characters  must,  originally,  have  been  individual, 
it  is  not  easy  at  first  sight  to  perceive  Weismann's 
real  meaning.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  enter 
more  particularly  into  a  consideration  of  his  theory, 
which  he  regards  as  in  general  accord  with  Dar- 
win's theory  of  pangenesis.  Darwin  supposes  that 
all  the  cells  of  the  body  continually  give  off  great 
numbers  of  gemmules,  which  are  conveyed  by  the 
blood  and  deposited  in  the  germ-cells  of  the  organ- 
ism. These  cells  are  thus  endowed  with  the  power 
of  developing  a  new  organism  of  the  same  kind, 
each  gemmule  reproducing  the  cell  from  which  it 
was  derived.  These  ultimate  vital  units  are  called 
by  Weismann  biophors,  but  he  supposes  them  not 
to  be  the  ultimate  "  bearers  of  vitality."  They  are 
said  to  be  arranged  in  groups  to  which  the  term 
determinants  is  applied,  and  these  groups  are  com- 
bined so  as  to  form  ancestral  ids  or  germ-plasms. 
Each  determinant,  which  is  made  up  of  perfectly 
definite  numbers  and  combinations  of  biophors,  is 
the  primary  constituent  of  a  particular  cell,  or  of 


76 


a  group  of  cells,  such  as  a  blood  corpuscle.  The 
determinants  thus  "  control  the  cell  by  breaking  up 
into  biophors,  which  migrate  into  the  cell  body 
through  the  nuclear  membrane,  multiply  there, 
arrange  themselves  according  to  the  forces  within 
them,  and  determine  the  histological  structure  of 
the  cell,"  impressing  upon  it  its  inherited  specific 
character.  The  structure  of  the  cell,  and  of  every 
subsequent  stage,  exists  therefore  potentially  in  the 
inherited  structure  of  the  id,  and  the  determination 
of  its  character  "depends  on  the  biophors  which 
the  corresponding  determinant  contains,  and  which 
it  transmits  to  the  cell." 

GERM-PLASM. — While  Weismann  regarded  germ- 
plasm  as  absolutely  stable,  the  only  mode  by  which 
congenital  variation  could  be  brought  about  was 
that  of  amphimixis,  or  intermingling  of  individuals 
in  the  process  of  generation.  As  modified,  how- 
ever, by  his  latest  work,  "The  Germ-plasm,  a 
Theory  of  Heredity,"  published  in  1892,  his  theory 
now  allows  the  plasm  to  be  capable  of  modification, 
and  he  ascribes  that  variation  to  the  direct  effects 
of  external  influences  on  the  biophors  and  deter- 
minants of  the  germ-plasm.  The  instability  of  this 
substance  is  so  slight,  however,  that  congenital 
variations  cannot  be  acted  on  and  perpetuated  by 
natural  selection,  and  the  influence  of  amphimixis 
is  thus  required  for  the  purpose.  Mr.  Herbert 


77 


Spencer,  however,  in  criticising  Weismann's  the- 
ory, declares  that  "  functionally  produced  modifi- 
cations of  structure  are  transmissible,"  and  he  re- 
fers in  support  of  his  contention  to  the  remarkable 
effect  of  arrested  nutrition  on  the  structure  and 
habits  of  wasps  and  bees.  It  especially  affects  the 
reproductive  organs,  and  hence  there  is  no  occasion 
to  call  in  the  aid  of  amphimixis  to  perpetuate  the 
variations  produced,  its  office  being  the  blending 
of  the  elements  on  which  the  characteristics  of  off- 
spring depend. 

If  it  be  asked  how  modifications  are  actually 
transmitted,  we  may  say  that  it  can  be  only  by  an 
affection  of  the  germ-cell.  This  probably  takes 
place  by  deviations  in  the  structure  of  what  Weis- 
mann  calls  determinants,  or  of  groups  of  deter- 
minants, through  rearrangement  of  their  primary 
units.  The  modification  would  be  preceded,  how- 
ever, by  a  corresponding  change  in  the  nerve  cen- 
ters concerned  in  the  use  or  disuse  of  the  organs 
affected.  Mr.  Spencer  shows  that  under  certain 
conditions  changes  take  place  in  the  conduct  of  cer- 
tain insects,  and  that  "  the  maternal  activities  and 
instincts  undergo  analogous  changes,"*  facts  which 
point  to  a  loss  of  nervous  energy  and  to  an  inti- 
mate connection  between  the  nervous  system  and 
the  reproductive  function.  Use  or  disuse  first  in- 
creases or  diminishes  the  activity  of  certain  nerve 

*  The  Contemporary  Review,  September,  1893. 


78 


centers,  and  this  leads  to  a  modification  of  the 
corresponding  germ-cells.  If  so,  the  determinants, 
instead  of  being  first  affected,  as  proposed  by  Weis- 
mann,  and  thus  determining  the  variations,  are  in 
reality  modified  as  the  result  of  the  functional 
changes,  and  are  thus  capable  of  transmitting  these 
changes  to  succeeding  generations. 

In  a  subsequent  article,  published  in  The  Con- 
temporary Review  for  October,  1894,  Mr.  Spencer 
recapitulates  his  argument  in  favor  of  the  trans- 
mission of  acquired  characters,  and  refers  to  ob- 
servations made  by  Professor  Hertwig  and  others, 
which  he  regards  as  "  showing,  firstly,  that  all  the 
multiplying  cells  of  the  developing  embryo  are 
alike  ;  and,  secondly,  that  the  soma-cells  of  the 
adult  severally  retain,  in  a  latent  form,  all  the  pow- 
ers of  the  original  embryo-cell,"  facts  which  he 
rightly  considers  disproves  Weismann's  hypothesis 
of  panmixia.  If  this  is  surrendered,  then,  says  Mr. 
Spencer,  "all  that  evidence  collected  by  Mr.  Dar- 
win and  others,  regarded  by  them  as  proof  of  the 
inheritance  of  acquired  characters,  which  was  cav- 
alierly set  aside  on  the  strength  of  this  alleged 
process  of  panmixia  is  reinstated.  And  this  rein- 
stated evidence,  joined  with  much  evidence  since 
furnished,  suffices  to  establish  the  repudiated  inter- 
pretation." 

Great  stress  was  laid  by  Professor  Weismann,  as 
evidence  in  support  of  his  theory,  on  the  supposed 


79 


fact  that  the  inheritance  of  injuries  sustained  dur- 
ing life  has  not  been  proved.  Particular  attention 
has  been  paid  to  this  point  by  Dr.  Eimer,  in  relation 
to  which  he  remarks  :  "  That  injuries  incurred  dur- 
ing life  are  but  seldom  transmitted  to  the  offspring 
does  not  appear  to  me  wonderful :  the  inheritance 
of  the  complete  form  and  complete  activities  of  the 
organism,  which  took  root  such  enormously  long 
periods  of  time  ago,  and  has  been  strengthened  at 
each  generation,  will,  as  a  rule,  counterbalance  in 
the  offspring  any  such  injuries  incurred  only  once 
and  not  repeated."  *  This  is  the  same  argument  as 
was  used,  as  quoted  above,  by  Professor  Cope,  to 
disprove  the  occurrence  of  birthmarks,  and  Dr.  Ei- 
mer goes  on  to  state  that  there  are  injuries  which 
are  not  transmitted  to  offspring,  although  they  are 
constantly  repeated,  as  an  instance  of  which  he  re- 
fers to  the  rupture  of  the  hymen.  He  adds,  how- 
ever :  "  In  such  cases  we  must  presume  a  specially 
effective  power  of  correlative  activity,  directed  to 
the  part  affected  and  residing  in  the  whole  organ- 
ism— the  same  compensating  power  which  leads  in 
lower  animals,  during  the  life  of  the  individual, 
to  the  regeneration  of  parts  which  have  been  lost 
or  artificially  removed.  But  these  cases  do  not 
prove  the  general  proposition  that  injuries  are  not 

*  "  Organic  Evolution."     Translated  by  J.  T.  Cunningham,  M.  A. 
Page  13. 


80 


inherited ;  they  do  not  prove  that  even  injuries 
which  have  been  repeated  during  a  considerable 
period  are  not  inherited.  Hitherto  little  importance 
has  been  attached  to  the  demonstration  of  the  in- 
heritance of  injuries.  Yet  single  cases  of  the  in- 
heritance of  injuries  only  once  incurred  seem  to  me 
to  be  thoroughly  authentic. " 

CONGENITAL  DEFORMITIES. — Professor  Weismann, 
in  replying  to  the  criticisms  of  Professor  Virchow, 
admitted  the  existence  of  a  number  of  congenital 
deformities,  birthmarks  and  other  individual  pecu- 
liarities, which  are  inherited,  but  he  affirms  that 
,we  do  not  know  from  what  causes  they  first  ap- 
peared, and  that  a  great  proportion  of  them  pro- 
ceed from  the  germ  itself,  and  are  due,  therefore, 
to  alteration  of  the  germinal  substance.  There  is 
no  proof  of  this,  however,  according  to  Dr.  Eimer,* 
who  appeals  to  various  facts  in  support  of  his  con- 
tention that  injuries  and  diseases  are  inherited. 
He  thinks  the  degeneration  of  the  tail  in  the  higher 
mammals  is  a  case  in  point,  although  it  has  re- 
quired great  periods  of  time  to  complete.  Among 
other  instances  of  inherited  injuries  mentioned  by 
Dr.  Eimer  is  one  in  which  a  scar  over  the  left  ear 
and  temple,  caused  to  a  girl  by  being  thrown  from 
a  carriage,  was  transmitted  to  her  son  and  grand- 
son, the  son  of  the  latter  also  showing  absence  of 

*  "  Organic  Evolution,"  page  176. 


81 


hair  on  the  injured  spot,  although  the  defect  gradu- 
ally disappeared  with  him,  nearly  a  hundred  years 
after  the  accident.  The  case  of  Dr.  Nosseler,  who 
inherited  from  his  mother  a  crushed  finger  joint, 
caused  by  an  accident  which  happened  two  years 
before  his  birth,  would  seem  to  be  conclusive  proof 
that  injuries  are  transmissible.  Dr.  Eimer  refers 
also  to  the  breeding  of  short-tailed  pointers  from 
dogs  whose  tails  had  been  artificially  shortened ; 
and  also  to  Brown-Sequard's  experiments  with 
guinea  pigs,  in  which  epilepsy  was  inherited  by 
their  offspring,  who  showed  also  the  loss  of  certain 
phalanges,  or  even  whole  toes  of  the  hind  feet,  the 
parents  having  suffered  a  similar  loss  owing  to  the 
division  of  the  sciatic  nerve.  He  adds  that  numer- 
ous other  instances  of  the  inheritance  of  injuries 
have  been  recorded,  as  "inheritance  of  the  arti- 
ficially shortened  tail  of  the  bull,  of  artificially  pro- 
duced hornlessness  in  cattle,  many  cases  of  inherit- 
ance in  man  of  curvature  in  a  finger,  caused  by 
injury,  inheritance  of  the  absence  of  one  eye  which 
had  been  lost  by  the  father  during  life  or  by  dis- 
ease, etc." 

The  question  of  the  inheritance  of  deformities 
and  diseases,  and  the  causes  of  the  germ-variations 
on  which  it  depends,  have  been  considered  by  Zeig- 
ler,  whose  conclusions,  as  quoted  by  Dr.  Eimer 
(page  186),  are  too  important  to  be  omitted.  The 
causes  which  Zeigler  assigns  for  the  origin  of  such 


germ-variations  are  of  three  kinds.  These  are  :  1— 
Union  of  sexual  nuclei  which  are  not  adapted  for 
copulation ;  2 — Disturbance  of  the  copulatory  pro- 
cess itself  ;  3 — Injurious  influences  which  affect  the 
sexual  nuclei  or  the  fertilized  ovum  at  a  time  when 
separation  of  the  sexual  cells  from  the  body  cells 
has  not  yet  occurred.  "  If  the  embryo  is  injurious- 
ly affected  at  a  later  period,"  says  Zeigler,  "  either 
a  malformation  or  a  constitutional  anomaly  arises, 
which  is  not  inherited,  or  only  the  sexual  cells  are 
injured,  in  which  case  the  body-cells  develop  nor- 
mally, and  a  disturbance  shows  itself  only  in  the 
development  of  the  next  generation."  The  union 
of  sexual  nuclei  not  adapted  for  copulation  appears, 
however,  to  be  "the  most  frequent  and  most  im- 
portant cause  of  hereditary  local  malformations  as 
well  as  of  hereditary  morbid  tendencies,  or  of  a 
defect  in  any  system  of  the  whole  organism."  If 
the  nuclei  are  altogether  unadapted  to  each  other, 
sterility  occurs,  as  in  the  sexual  nuclei  of  distinct 
species. 

PSYCHICAL  DISEASES. — Zeigler's  conclusions  are 
supported  by  reference  to  the  enquiries  of  the  distin- 
guished psychiatrist,  D.  Von  Kraf  t-Ebings,  who  has 
considered  the  heredity  of  psychical  diseases,  and 
in  connection  therewith  mentions  three  "essential 
facts  "  which  it  is  necessary  to  keep  in  view  when 
dealing  with  that  subject.  The  first  of  these  facts 


83 


is  Atavism,  by  which  "the  bodily  and  mental  or- 
ganization and  character  can  be  transmitted  from 
the  first  to  the  third  generation,  without  any  neces- 
sity that  the  second  and  intermediate  one  should 
exhibit  the  peculiarities  of  the  first — thus  the  con- 
dition of  the  life  and  health  of  the  grandparents 
are  of  interest  for  us."  Secondly,  "Only  in  rare 
cases  is  the  actual  disease  transmitted  in  procre- 
ation (congenital  insanity,  hereditary  syphilis),  as  a 
rule  only  the  disposition  thereto.  Actual  disease 
only  occurs  when  accessory  injurious  influences 
produce  an  effect  based  upon  that  disposition.  .  .  . 
We  must,  therefore,  consider  also  the  state  of 
health  of  the  relatives  (uncles,  cousins,  aunts),  and 
since  here  also  the  law  of  atavism  holds  good,  the 
possible  diseases  of  great-uncles  and  great-aunts." 
Thirdly,  Dr.  Von  Krafft-Ebings  says,  "Only  excep- 
tionally does  the  same  disease  develop  in  ascendant 
as  in  descendant  lines,  in  consequence  of  the  trans- 
mission of  morbid  dispositions.  On  the  contrary, 
there  exists  a  remarkable  variability  in  the  forms 
of  disease  which  may  almost  claim  the  value  of  a 
law  (the  law  of  polymorphism  or  transmutation)." 

This  law  is  referred  to  by  M.  Ribot  as  one  of  the 
causes  of  deviation  from  heredity,  and  he  speaks 
of  it  as  "transformation."  As  examples  of  trans- 
formation of  heredity,  Ribot  refers  to  fixed  ideas 
in  the  progenitor,  which  may  become  in  the  de- 
scendants "melancholy,  taste  for  meditation,  apti- 


tude  for  the  exact  sciences,  energy  of  will,  etc. ; " 
the  mania  of  progenitors  may  be  changed  in  the 
descendants  into  "  aptitude  for  the  arts,  liveliness 
of  imagination,  quickness  of  mind,  inconsistency  in 
desires,  sudden  and  variable  will.  "  Just  as  real  in- 
sanity," says  Moreau  of  Tours,  "may  be  hereditari- 
ly reproduced  only  under  the  form  of  eccentricity, 
may  be  transmitted  from  progenitors  to  descend- 
ants only  in  modified  form,  and  in  more  or  less 
mitigated  character,  so  a  state  of  simple  eccen- 
tricity in  the  parent — a  state  which  is  no  more  than 
a  peculiarity  or  a  strangeness  of  character — may  in 
the  children  be  the  origin  of  true  insanity.  Thus 
in  transformations  of  heredity  we  sometimes  have 
the  germ  attaining  its  maximum  intensity  ;  and 
again,  a  maximum  of  activity  may  revert  to  the 
minimum. "  * 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  as  mentioned  by  Yon 
Krafft-Ebings,  f  that  everything  which  debilitates 
the  nervous  system  and  the  generative  powers  of 
the  parents,  '  *  be  it  immaturity  or  too  advanced  old 
age,  previous  debilitating  diseases  (typhus,  syphi- 
lis), mercurial  treatment,  alcoholic  and  sexual  ex- 
cesses, overwork,  etc.,  may  give  rise  to  neuropathic 
constitutions,  and  thereby  indirectly  to  every  possi- 
ble nervous  disease  in  the  descendants." 

*  "Organic  Evolution,"  page  211. 
fOp.  cit.,  page  201. 


85 

TELEGONY. — There  is  one  remarkable  phenome- 
non, spoken  of  by  various  writers  as  telegony, 
which  has  an  important  bearing  on  the  subject  of 
the  transmission  of  acquired  characters,  and  shows 
the  action  of  prenatal  influence  in  an  unexpected 
form.  It  is  referred  to  by  Professor  Romanes, 
when  he  says,  "It  has  not  unfrequently  been  ob- 
served, at  any  rate  in  mammals,  that  when  a  fe- 
male has  borne  progeny  to  a  male  of  one  variety, 
and  subsequently  bears  progeny  to  a  male  of  an- 
other variety,  the  younger  progeny  presents  a  more 
or  less  unmistakable  resemblance  to  the  father  of 
the  older  one."  *  This  curious  fact  was  considered, 
in  relation  to  plants  especially,  by  Darwin,  who  af- 
firms, as  quoted  by  Romanes,  that  it  is  of  the  high- 
est theoretical  importance,  as  "The  male  element 
not  only  affects,  in  accordance  with  its  proper 
function,  the  germ,  but  at  the  same  time  various 
parts  of  the  mother-plant,  in  the  same  manner  as 
it  affects  the  same  parts  in  the  seminal  offspring 
from  the  same  two  parents.  We  thus  learn  that  an 
ovule  is  not  indispensable  for  the  reception  of  the 
influence  of  the  male  element." 

The  curious  phenomenon  of  telegony  is  not  limit- 
ed, however,  to  plants.  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  drew 
attention,  in  The  Contemporary  Review  for  March, 
1893,  to  a  case  which  has  long  been  known  to  horse- 

*  "Examination  of  Weismannism,"  page  77. 


8G 

breeders,  and  which  may  be  said  to  have  become 
classic.  The  facts  were  brought,  by  the  Earl  of 
Morton,  to  the  attention  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Great  Britain,  as  long  ago  as  the  year  1820.  The 
Earl,  who  possessed  a  male  quagga,  said,  in  a  letter 
to  the  President:  "I  tried  to  breed  from  the  male 
quagga  and  a  young  chestnut  mare  of  seven- 
eighths  Arabian  blood,  and  which  had  never  been 
bred  from;  the  result  was  the  production  of  a  fe- 
male hybrid,  now  five  years  old.  and  bearing,  both 
in  her  form  and  in  her  colour,  very  decided  indica- 
tions of  her  mixed  origin.  I  subsequently  parted 
with  the  seven-eighths  Arabian  mare  to  Sir  Gore 
Ouseley,  who  has  bred  from  her  by  a  very  fine 
black  Arabian  horse.  I  yesterday  morning  exam- 
ined the  produce,  namely,  a  two-year-old  filly  and 
a  one-year-old  colt.  They  have  the  character  of 
the  Arabian  breed  as  decidedly  as  can  be  expected, 
where  fifteen-sixteenths  of  the  blood  are  Arabian ; 
and  they  are  fine  specimens  of  that  breed ;  but  both 
in  their  colour  and  in  the  hair  of  their  manes  they 
have  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  quagga.  Their 
colour  is  bay,  marked  more  or  less  like  the  quagga 
in  a  darker  tint.  Both  are  distinguished  by  the 
dark  line  along  the  ridge  of  the  back,  the  dark 
stripes  across  the  forehead,  and  the  dark  bars 
across  the  back  part  of  the  legs."  Mr.  Spencer  re- 
fers to  an  analogous  case  of  the  influence  of  a  wild 
boar  over  the  subsequent  progeny  of  a  domestic 


87 


sow,  and  it  now  appears  that  such  effects  are  not  so 
uncommon  as  the  scientific  world  has  supposed. 

Professor  Romanes  made  particular  enquiries  on 
this  subject  of  professional  and  amateur  breeders 
of  animals,  and  he  says  most  of  his  correspondents 
"are  quite  persuaded  that  it  is  of  frequent  occur- 
rence, many  of  them  regard  it  as  a  general  rule, 
while  some  of  them  go  so  far  as  to  make  a  point  of 
always  putting  a  mare,  bitch,  etc.,  to  a  good  pedi- 
gree male  in  her  first  season,  so  that  her  subse- 
quent progenies  may  be  benefited  by  his  influence, 
even  though  they  be  engendered  by  inferior  sires."* 
His  own  more  modest  conclusion  is  that  the  evi- 
dence he  obtained  "  is  enough  to  prove  the  fact  of 
a  previous  sire  asserting  his  influence  on  a  subse- 
quent progeny,  although  this  fact  is  one  of  com- 
paratively rare  occurrence." 

The  English  Darwinian  met  with  only  one  case 
in  which  the  offspring  of  a  woman  by  a  second  hus- 
band, who  was  a  white  man,  showed  the  influence 
of  her  first  husband,  who  was  a  negro.  Mr.  Her- 
bert Spencer  would  seem  to  have  been  more  suc- 
cessful. In  The  Contemporary  Review  for  May, 
1893,  Mr.  Spencer  gives  the  result  of  his  own  en- 
quiries as  to  the  effect  on  a  white  woman's  subse- 
quent progeny  of  a  previous  union  with  a  negro, 
and  he  quotes  the  opinion  of  a  "  distinguished  cor- 

*  "  Examination  of  Weismannism,"  page  22. 


88 


respondent,"  that  information  given  to  him  many 
years  ago  was  to  the  effect  that  "the  children  of 
white  women  by  a  white  father  had  been  repeatedly 
observed  to  show  traces  of  black  blood,  in  cases 
where  the  woman  had  previous  connexion  with 
[i.  e.,  a  child  by]  a  negro."  Mr.  Spencer  refers  also 
to  Professor  Marsh  as  authority  for  such  a  case, 
and  to  the  opinion  of  several  medical  professors 
who  assured  him,  through  Dr.  W.  J.  Youmans, 
that  the  alleged  result  "  is  generally  accepted  as  a 
fact."  He  gives  as  authoritative  testimony  the  fol- 
lowing statement  by  Dr.  Austin  Flint,  taken  from 
his  "Text-book  of  Human  Physiology:"  "A  pe- 
culiar and,  it  seems  to  me,  an  inexplicable  fact  is, 
that  previous  pregnancies  had  an  influence  upon 
offspring.  This  is  well  known  to  breeders  of  ani- 
mals. If  pure  blooded  mares  or  bitches  have  been 
once  covered  by  an  inferior  male,  in  subsequent 
fecundations  the  young  are  likely  to  partake  of  the 
character  of  the  first  male,  even  if  they  be  bred 
with  males  of  unimpeachable  pedigree.  What  the 
mechanism  of  the  influence  of  the  first  conception 
is,  it  is  impossible  to  say;  but  the  fact  is  incontest- 
able. The  same  influence  is  observed  in  the  human 
subject.  A  woman  may  have,  by  a  second  hus- 
band, children  who  resemble  a  former  husband, 
and  this  is  particularly  well  marked  in  certain  in- 
stances by  the  color  of  the  hair  and  eyes.  A  white 
v/oman  who  has  had  children  by  a  negro  may  sub- 


89 


sequently  bear  children  to  a  white  man,  these  chil- 
dren presenting  some  of  the  Unmistakable  pecu- 
liarities of  the  negro  race." 

This  phenomenon  would  alone  seem  to  answer 
the  question  of  the  transmission  of  acquired  char- 
acters in  the  affirmative,  for  its  explanation  is  to  be 
found  in  the  facts  brought  out  by  Darwin,  as  to 
the  action  of  foreign  pollen  on  the  structure  of  the 
mother  plant ;  in  relation  to  which  Professor  Ro- 
manes remarks  :  "  When  one  variety  fertilizes  the 
ovules  of  another  not  unf requently  the  influence  ex- 
tends beyond  the  ovules  to  the  ovarium,  and  even 
to  the  calyx  and  flower-stalk,  of  the  mother  plant. 
This  influence,  which  may  affect  the  shape,  size, 
colour,  and  texture  of  the  somatic  tissues  of  the 
mother,  has  been  observed  in  a  large  number  of 
plants  belonging  to  many  different  orders. "  *  May 
we  not  have  here  the  explanation  of  the  fact,  which 
has  frequently  been  pointed  out,  that  husband  and 
wife  show  a  tendency  to  grow  like  each  other,  both 
physically  and  mentally,  the  resemblance  after  a 
long  married  life  being  sometimes  very  striking  ? 

POWER  OF  HEREDITY. — The  most  important  fact 
brought  out  in  the  discussion  of  the  possibility  of 
the  transmission  of  acquired  characters  is  the  power 
of  heredity.  If  organisms  did  not  reproduce  their 

*  "  Examination  of  Weismannism,"  page  79. 


own  special  characteristics,  there  could  be  no  fixity 
of  form  and  no  order  in  organic  nature.     Neverthe- 
less, if  there  were  no  change  by  individual  modi- 
fication or  divergence,  in  whatever  way  this  may 
be  rendered  permanent  in  the  race,  there  could  be 
no  evolution.     Hence  we  can  say,  with  Dr.  Eimer, 
"Any  one  who  thus  completely  renders  allegiance 
to  the.  supremacy  of  the  principles  of  the  unity  of 
the  organic  world,  who  rejects  everything  which 
contradicts  that  principle,   cannot  help   admitting 
that  in  truth,  as  I  assert,  the  ultimate  origin  of  the 
various  kinships  in  the  animal  and  vegetable  king- 
dom is  to  be  traced  to  individual  differences,  and 
that  the  difference  between  the  former,   like  the 
latter,  must  be  essentially  determined  by  external 
conditions,  by  the  modification  of  organic  growth." 
The  causes  of  diversity  which  interfere  with  the 
action  of  heredity  may  operate,  as  we  have  seen, 
at  the  moment  of  conception,  or  subsequent  to  con- 
ception.    The  former  class  of  causes  is  of  great  im- 
portance,   in  accordance   with    the  principle,    laid 
down  by  M.  Eibot,  of  the  disproportion  of  effects 
to  causes,  and  it  is  essential,  therefore,  if  children 
are  to  be  well-born,  that  their  parents  should  be 
careful  that  at  the  moment  of  procreation  they  are 
fitted  for  the  performance  of  so  serious  an  act.    Mr. 
J.  F.  Nisbet  in  his  "Marriage  and  Heredity"  (page 
126),  well  observes,  "  Twins  usually  bear  a  closer 
resemblance  to  each  other  than  to  their  brothers 


91 

and  sisters  born  at  a  different  period;  and  the  rea- 
son generally  assigned  is  that  they  are  conceived 
under  precisely  similar  conditions.  If  so,  it  follows 
that  the  difference  existing  between  ordinary  mem- 
bers of  a  family  is  due  to  their  being  born  at  con- 
siderable intervals  of  time  and  therefore  under 
changed  conditions  on  the  part  of  their  parents." 

SOBRIETY  IN  THE  FATHER. — Especially  does  it  con- 
cern the  father,  who  is  the  most  active  agent  in 
reproduction,  to  see  that  he  is  then  in  a  fit  condi- 
tion. This  is  quite  apart  from  the  question  of  the 
diseased  condition  of  the  organism  treated  of  by 
Dr.  Von  Krafft-Ebings,  and  refers  to  temporary 
rather  than  to  continuing  causes.  Sobriety  is  in 
this  connection  of  great  importance,  and,  as  ap- 
pears from  a  passage,  already  quoted,  in  Xeno- 
phon,  was  insisted  on  at  the  time  of  procreation, 
by  the  ancients. 

Zeigler  points  out,  as  quoted  by  Dr.  Eimer,  that 
"substances  taken  up  from  without,  as,  for  exam- 
ple, poisons,  are  brought  by  the  blood  to  the  sexual 
cells,  and  others  produced  in  the  body  are  conveyed 
to  the  sexual  organs."*  It  is  suggested  that  alco- 
hol has  such  an  effect,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  a  tendency  to  the  drinking  habit  may  be  im- 
planted in  a  child  by  a  parent  intoxicated  at  the 


"Organic  Evolution,"  page  187. 


92 


time  of  procreation,  with  the  possibility  of  its  lead- 
ing to  other  evils  in  succeeding  generations,  ending 
in  the  early  extinction  of  the  family.  Nisbet  refers 
to  several  cases  of  this  character,  and  remarks 
(page  112)  that,  "There  is  a  limit  to  the  trans- 
mission of  abnormal  characters,  either  in  an  origi- 
nal or  in  a  disguised  form.  Always  striving  after 
perfection,  or  rather  uniformity  of  type,  Nature 
either  purifies  a  race  of  its  physical  and  moral  de- 
fects, or,  if  the  type  be  too  vicious,  exterminates  it, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  Caesars,  the  Stuarts,  and  many 
other  historical  families."  Doutrebente  came  to 
the  conclusion,  however,  that  insanity — and  doubt- 
less it  is  true  of  other  conditions — may  be  worked 
out  of  a  family  by  the  infusion  of  healthy  blood, 
except  where  both  parents  were  insane,  in  which 
case  their  offspring  will  become  extinct. 

The  law  of  Leviticus  (chap,  x,  verse  9)  provides, 
under  penalty  of  death,  that  the  priests  should  not 
drink  wine  or  strong  drink  before  going  into  the 
tent  of  meeting.  The  more  stringent  regulations 
provided  by  this  law  in  relation  to  intercourse  be- 
tween Jehovah  and  His  people  require  physical  and 
moral  perfection  in  those  who  approach  the  deity, 
and  they  may  be  studied  with  advantage  at  the 
present  day  by  those  who  wish  lo  aid  in  the  per- 
fecting of  the  race.  The  man  who  had  a  blemish 
was  not  allowed  to  go  near  the  altar  of  sacrifice, 
that  the  sanctuary  might  not  be  profaned ;  and  the 


93 


sanctuary  of   the  human  organism  should  no  less 
be  preserved  from  profanation. 

SACREDNESS  OF  PARENTAGE. — It  would  be  well  if 
the  sacred  act  of  procreation  were  performed  more 
often  in  the  spirit  of  the  ancients,  who  regarded 
marriage  as  a  sacred  institution,  designed  not  only 
for  the  perpetuation  of  the  race,  but  also  for  the 
carrying  on  of  the  religion  of  the  domestic  hearth. 
The  first-born  child  especially  was  considered  to 
have  been  sent  by  the  gods,  and  care  was  taken, 
therefore,  that  it  should  be  well-born.  Prayer  and 
offerings  were  made  to  the  spirits  before  the  nup- 
tial bed  was  approached,  and  everything  was  done 
to  ensure  the  gift  they  were  asked  for  should  be 
in  every  respect  worthy  of  them.  Among  the  an- 
cient Hebrews  the  first-born  of  "all  that  openeth 
the  womb "  was  dedicated  to  Jehovah  (Exodus 
xxxiv,  19),  and  hence  the  rights  of  the  eldest  son 
could  not  be  defeated  by  his  father:  "  for  he  is  the 
beginning  of  his  strength  "  (Deut.  xxi,  17). 

The  disturbance  of  uterine  existence  between 
conception  and  birth  is  that  which  has  engaged 
most  attention,  and  the  fact  that  such  disturbances 
can  take  place  requires  that  the  expectant  mother 
should  be  protected  from  anything  that  can  so  act 
on  her  own  organism  as  to  prevent  the  due  opera- 
tion of  the  law  of  heredity.  The  precautions  taken 
by  primitive  peoples  in  relation  to  food  may  have 


94 

some  foundation  in  fact,  and  any  food  should  be 
avoided  by  the  enceinte  woman  which  will  injuri- 
ously influence  the  system,  or  give  rise  to  organic 
disturbances  that  may  affect  the  blood  by  which 
the  embryo  is  nourished.  Emotional  disturbances 
are  to  be  no  less  avoided,  as  through  the  nervous 
system  they  act  on  the  blood  itself.  How  far  the 
action  of  the  emotions  can  influence  the  physical 
organism  has  become  a  moot  question  with  psy- 
chologists, who  now  seem  inclined  to  think  that 
"movements  are  not  caused  by  the  emotions,  but 
are  aroused  reflexly  by  the  object."  Thus,  if  the 
sight  of  a  disagreeable  object  affects  by  reflex  ac- 
tion the  muscular  system  of  the  mother,  it  will 
arouse  in  her  a  concomitant  emotion,  which  being 
transmitted  to  the  embryo  may  act  on  its  muscular 
system,  leaving  the  impression  as  a  birthmark, 
which  may  be  regarded  as  a  reflection  from  the 
cerebral  nerve  center  of  the  mother,  whether  emo- 
tion is  the  cause  or  effect  of  muscular  movement. 

If  the  unborn  child  can  be  affected  injuriously 
by  disturbances  of  the  mother's  environment,  it  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  child  can  be  influ- 
enced in  the  opposite  direction  by  making  that  en- 
vironment as  conducive  to  the  normal  activity  of 
the  material  organism  as  possible.  The  story  of 
Jacob  and  Laban,  referred  to  at  the  beginning 
of  this  chapter,  affords  an  important  lesson  as  to 
the  surroundings  with  which  the  wife  should  be 


95 


provided.  The  bedchamber  itself  may  become  a 
means  of  influencing  offspring  for  good  or  evil, 
and  hence  it  should  contain  only  what  is  agreeable 
to  the  senses,  and  capable  of  giving  rise  to  pleasant 
imaginings.  Especially  should  this  be  the  case 
where  a  woman  is  of  a  highly  sensitive  nature. 
Impressions  received  from  without  depend  largely 
for  their  force  and  influence,  however,  on  the  con- 
dition of  the  receptive  mind,  and  beautiful  surround- 
ings cannot  make  up  for  the  want  of  inward  har- 
mony. A  happy  and  contented  mind  is  the  best 
guarantee  that  the  due  action  of  the  law  of  heredity 
will  not  be  disturbed  at  the  time  of  conception  or 
afterwards.  Thus,  bickerings  between  husband 
and  wife  must  have  a  disturbing  effect,  especially 
if  carried  into  the  bedchamber.  The  sage  of  old 
said:  "Let  not  the  sun  go  down  upon  thy  wrath," 
and  parents  should  make  it  a  point  of  duty,  for  the 
sake  of  their  future  offspring,  never  to  let  the  dis- 
putes of  the  daytime — if  unfortunately  they  occur — 
be  carried  into  the  night.  The  bedchamber  is  the 
place  for  mental  as  well  as  physical  repose. 

The  surest  guarantee  against  the  occurrence  of 
conditions  which  may  injuriously  affect  the  future 
offspring,  either  at  the  time  of  procreation,  or  dur- 
ing the  subsequent  period  of  gestation,  is  to  be 
found  in  the  general  life  of  the  parents.  This  will 
give  the  general  impress  which  affects  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  child  as  a  whole,  and  it  will  show 


96 

what  are  the  conditions  of  the  family  life  under 
the  influence  of  which  it  was  born.     The  nature  of 
the  "home"  is  thus  an  important  factor  in  deter- 
mining that  of  the  offspring,  and  it  will  necessarily 
be  a  reflection  of  the  general  character  of  those  on 
whom  it  depends.     A  noble  life  in  the  parent  will 
bear  fruit  in  the  physical,  intellectual  and  moral 
character  of  the  child,  and  although  this  is  true 
in  relation  to  the  father  as  well  as  to  the  mother, 
it  is  doubly  true  as  to  the  latter,  seeing  that  the 
mother  alone  is  the  bearer  and  iiourisher  of  off- 
spring during  the  period  of  gestation.     During  this 
period  the  child  acquires  probably  many  of  the 
characters  which  it  inherits  from  its  mother,  and 
the  maternal  influence  may  thus  be  extended  to 
the  period  of  lactation.     The  importance  attached 
to  fosterage,  where  this  practice  became  an  estab- 
lished custom,  as  with  the  early  Irish  and  Arabs, 
would  seem  to  prove  that  the  characteristics  of  the 
nurse  were  to  some  extent  transmitted  to  the  child 
with  the  milk.    The  early  Arabs  regarded  the  milk- 
tie  as  constituting  a  real  unity  of  flesh  and  blood 
between  the  foster  mother  and  the  foster  child, 
and  between  foster  children,  so  much  so  as  to  be  a 
bar  to  marriage. 

SELF-CONTROL. — One  very  serious  matter  which 
should  be  kept  in  mind  by  an  expectant  mother  is 
the  duty  of  exercising  self-control.  The  influence 


97 


of  this  principle  in  relation  to  the  general  life  and 
conduct  has  been  repeatedly  pointed  out,  and  it  is 
referred  to  by  Jennie  Chandler  in  The  Journal 
of  Hygiene  for  August,  1895,  where  we  are  told: 
"The  power  of  self-mastery  is  believed  by  scientists 
to  be  the  last  one  acquired  by  the  human  race  in 
the  process  of  evolution,  and  the  last  powers  ac- 
quired are  not  so  firmly  fixed  in  our  natures  as 
some  which  have  been  longer  in  our  possession. 
The  result  is,  it  becomes  deranged  more  readily 
than  more  fixed  forces.  In  many  cases,  self-con- 
trol has  never  been  acquired  at  all,  and  so  the  per- 
son can  only  partly  master  himself.  As  a  rule, 
children  have  little  of  this  power.  They  are  like 
animals.  Little  by  little,  as  they  grow  older,  ii 
grows,  and  in  some  it  becomes  so  well  developed 
that  it  is  almost  perfect.  In  others,  like  music  in 
those  who  never  acquire  it,  or  any  other  faculty, 
it  never  becomes  a  potent  factor  in  life." 

Dr.  Chandler  adds,  "Woman  as  well  as  man 
needs  to  learn  self-mastery.  With  a  large  amount 
of  feeling  in  her  nature,  it  is  very  hard  for  her  to 
do  it,  but  she  should  try.  Too  many  of  us  go 
through  life  never  making  any  effort  to  be  our  own 
masters.  We  give  way  to  caprices,  whims,  feel- 
ings, follies,  far  more  than  is  good  for  our  health. 
Hysteria  gives  us  a  good  example  of  the  loss  of 
self-control.  Any  uncontrolled  passion  gives  an 
equally  vivid  example.  Men  and  women  often  say 


98 


they  can't  govern  themselves  ;  that  is  admitting 
they  have  defects  of  character  which  are  their  mas- 
ters. They  ought  to  make  effort  and  see  if  they 
are  not  mistaken.  The  worst  effect  of  lack  of  self- 
control  are  on  the  health.  It  allows  every  kind  of 
bad  habit  in  eating,  drinking,  dressing,  sleeping, 
to  gain  possession  of  the  person,  and  the  result  is  a 
weak  instead  of  a  strong  character." 

Considering  the  effect  which  the  organic  dispo- 
sition of  the  mother  has  on  the  future  offspring, 
it  is  evident  that  whether  a  child  shall  have  the 
power  of  self-control  depends  very  largely  on  the 
mother  herself,  and  it  is  all-important,  therefore, 
that  she  should  have  and  exercise  that  power  her- 
self. As  Dr.  Chandler  remarks,  "  No  matter  how 
much  you  have  been  to  school,  how  many  college 
degrees  you  have,  you  are  not  educated  till  you 
have  a  reasonable  control  of  your  own  nature,  and 
can  direct  your  own  lives  rather  than  have  them 
directed  for  you  by  your  feelings  and  emotions." 
This  truth  obtains  fresh  significance  when  we  con- 
sider that  a  woman's  conduct  affects  the  direction 
not  only  of  her  own  life,  but  the  lives  of  her  future 
children,  and  possibly  of  succeeding  generations. 

Although  much  has  yet  to  be  done  to  prove  the 
actual  effects  on  offspring  of  the  conduct  of  its 
parents,  enough  is  known  to  establish  the  fact  that 
both  the  general  disposition  and  the  particular  con- 
duct of  father  or  mother  may  interfere  with  the  or- 


99 


derly  action  of  the  law  of  heredity.  This  law  en- 
sures the  inheritance  of  race  and  individual  charac- 
ters ;  but  when  these  are  good,  a  noble  life  will 
cause  the  tendencies  towards  good  to  be  still  fur- 
ther strengthened  in  offspring,  and  if  they  are  evil, 
then  the  disposition  will  receive  an  inclination  in 
the  opposite  direction,  or,  at  least,  the  further  de- 
velopment of  evil  will  be  arrested.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  degrading  life  will  produce  bad  effects  on 
offspring,  causing  deterioration  of  the  organic  dis- 
position and  strengthening  the  tendency  to  evil  it 
may  have  inherited,  or  weakening  its  tendencies 
towards  the  good. 


HEREDITY   AND   EDUCATION. 


A  Lecture  delivered  before  the  Brooklyn  Ethical  Association, 

In  presenting  the  subject  of  heredity  and  its  re- 
lation to  education,  it  seems  to  me  best  to  consider 
first  what  is  meant  by  the  term,  and  after  this  the 
views  held  on  the  subject  by  our  leading  evolution- 
ists, when  its  relation  to  education  will  be  easier 
and,  I  hope,  more  satisfactory. 

In  common  parlance,  heredity  is  the  transmission 
of  any  trait  or  peculiarity  from  the  parent  to  the 
offspring,  as  the  color  of  the  hair,  the  form  of  the 
nose,  the  tones  of  the  voice ;  or  any  disease,  or 
any  special  character  that  may  exist  in  either  pa- 
rent. 

If  a  horse  has  a  star  on  its  forehead  like  one  of 
its  ancestors,  we  say  it  is  due  to  heredity.  If  an  ox 
has  color  marks  on  its  body  like  its  parent,  it  is  a 
case  of  heredity.  If  a  human  being  has  a  disease 
which  his  ancestors  had,  very  often  he  declares  he 
inherited  it  from  them,  even  if  it  be  only  a  common 
catarrh.  But  this  is  a  narrow  view  of  the  subject, 
and  does  not  include  all  that  a  biologist  means 
when  he  uses  this  word. 


101 


By  heredity  he  understands  the  production  from 
a  fertilized  ovum  of  an  individual,  with  all  the  gen- 
eral characteristics  of  structure  and  function  of 
body  and  brain  of  the  species  to  which  it  belongs. 
It  means  that  the  offspring,  however  much  they 
may  vary  in  general  characters,  will  always  be  of 
the  same  species  as  the  parents.  The  offspring  of 
dogs  will  be  dogs  ;  of  wolves,  wolves ;  of  negroes, 
negroes,  and  of  white  men,  white  men.  Anything 
less  is  not  heredity  in  its  full  sense. 

Darwin,  whom  we  all  love  and  honor,  says  :  "  The 
whole  subject  of  inheritance  is  wonderful,"  and  in 
this  he  but  voices  the  universal  sentiment  of  those 
who  have  given  any  serious  consideration  to  it. 
Let  me  try  to  show  you  how  wonderful  it  is  by  an 
illustration.  From  very  ancient  times  the  horse 
has  been  the  constant  companion  of  man.  This 
animal,  with  his  splendid  muscular  system,  the 
most  perfect,  perhaps,  of  any  creature,  has  for  his 
food  and  shelter,  and  not  always  the  best  of  these, 
rendered  mankind  almost  infinite  service.  Now, 
every  horse  that  has  ever  been  born  into  the  world 
began  life  as  a  minute  ovum,  which  under  the 
microscope  presents  no  appearance  of  a  horse,  or 
any  other  animal,  and,  strange  to  say,  this  ovum 
is,  to  all  appearance,  like  the  ovum  of  other  ani- 
mals, and  no  amount  of  study,  without  knowing  its 
origin,  can  decide  whether  it  will  develop  as  a  dog, 
an  ox,  a  horse  or  a  man.  After,  however,  it  has 


102 

gone  through  the  process  of  gestation,  this  appar- 
ently simple  egg  becomes  an  animal  of  a  very  com- 
plex nature,  with  heart,  lungs,  brain,  eyes,  ears, 
mouth,  stomach,  and  blood  vessels,  all  where  they 
should  be  and  ready  to  perform  their  functions; 
with  mental  traits  of  a  peculiar  kind  which  adapt 
him  to  the  service  which  man  requires.  Nay  more : 
In  the  process  of  the  evolution  of  the  horse,  little  by 
little  he  has  changed  in  various  ways,  and  many,  if 
not  all  of  these  changes  in  his  bodily  constitution 
and  in  his  mental  characteristics,  which  have  been 
found  useful  or  made  him  more  serviceable  to  man, 
his  greater  docility,  his  increased  size,  his  enor- 
mous strength  and  speed,  his  wonderful  beauty, 
through  a  wise  selection  and  the  weeding  out  of  the 
unfit  on  the  part  of  the  breeder,  have  been  trans- 
mitted through  heredity  to  his  offspring,  so  that  to- 
day only  a  paleontologist  can  tell  us  if  he  finds  the 
remains  of  a  primitive  horse,  that  it  belongs  to  the 
same  class  of  animals  as  the  horse  of  our  time. 

THEORIES. — Our  theories  of  heredity  will  depend 
on  the  extent  of  our  knowledge,  and  especially  our 
knowledge  of  embryology.  In  the  last  century 
knowledge  on  this  subject  was  very  meagre,  es- 
pecially that  part  of  embryology  which  could  only 
be  studied  with  the  microscope  ;  consequently  the 
views  of  scientists  and  others  of  that  time  were 
exceedingly  crude.  The  most  important  was  that 


103 

of  Malphigi  and  Bonnet,  who  maintained  that  the 
miniature  animal  existed  in  the  egg-  that  fertiliza- 
tion by  the  male  element  simply  furnished  it  with 
food  for  growth,  and  that  this  was  added  to  and 
stored  up  in  its  interstices.  Cuvier,  Haller  and 
Leibnitz  adopted  substantially  these  views.  The 
latter  found  them  to  support  his  opinion  that  every- 
thing was  the  result  of  growth  from  monads,  and 
that  there  was  no  such  thing  in  all  nature  as  gener- 
ation. 

Such  a  theory  was  very  simple,  but  it  explained 
nothing  except  the  bare  production  of  offspring.  It 
gave  no  clue  to  their  endless  variations,  nor  to  the 
fact  that  they  often  resembled  the  father  more  than 
the  mother.  According  to  this  theory  the  offspring 
should  resemble  the  mother,  as  the  complete  indi- 
vidual is  formed  by  her  and  should  be  in  her  image. 

Leeuwenhock,  one  of  the  early  microscopists,  by 
the  aid  of  his  lenses,  opened  a  new  world  to  man- 
kind, and  discovered  the  sperm  cells  to  be  active, 
living,  moving  elements,  and  he  gave  a  death-blow 
to  the  belief  that  the  perfect  organism  exists  in  the 
ovum;  but  he  went  to  the  opposite  extreme,  and 
maintained  that  it  exists  in  the  male  cell  and  that 
it  is  only  fed  and  developed  by  the  female.  Even 
today  we  find  in  a  vague  way  both  these  theories 
held  by  educated  persons. 

We  are  indebted  to  Harvey  in  the  early  part  of 
the  eighteenth  century  for  advocating  the  view  held 


104 

by  Aristotle,  now  known  as  Epigenesis,  and  com- 
batting the  view  of  growth  from  a  miniature,  but 
already  perfectly  formed  animal,  to  a  visible  one. 
Epigenesis  consists  in  the  successive  differentiation 
from  the  relatively  homogeneous  elements  as  found 
in  the  egg,  to  the  complicated  parts  and  structure 
as  seen  in  the  offspring. 

According  to  Huxley,  this  work  of  Harvey  alone 
would  have  entitled  him  to  recognition  as  one  of 
the  founders  of  biological  science,  had  he  not  im- 
mortalized himself  as  the  discoverer  of  the  circula- 
tion of  the  blood. 

Not  long  after  Harvey's  publication,  Casper  Fred- 
erick Wolf  established  the  theory  of  epigenesis 
upon  a  firm  foundation,  where  it  still  remains. 

The  doctrine  of  epigenesis  has  very  much  com- 
plicated the  whole  question  of  heredity.  No  won- 
der even  so  great  a  mind  as  that  of  Darwin  ex- 
claimed, "The  whole  subject  is  wonderful. 'r  How 
can  an  egg,  which  in  structure  is  comparatively 
simple,  an  aggregation  of  cells,  not  one  of  which 
bears  the  slightest  resemblance  to  any  organ  in  the 
body,  develop  into  the  perfect  individual  ?  How  can 
this  egg,  formed  in  special  organs,  develop  other 
organs  than  those  like  the  ones  in  which  it  was 
formed  ?  How  can  sexual  cells  develop  brain  cells, 
with  their  wonderful  modes  of  action  ? 

We  cannot  explain  the  philosophy  of  heredity 
without  being  able  to  answer  these  questions ;  but 


105 

difficult  as  is  the  problem,  our  biologists  have  made 
various  attempts  at  an  explanation.  I  cannot  go 
over  all  the  various  speculations,  but  only  those 
most  intimately  connected  with  the  subject  will  be 
mentioned. 

The  first  is  Darwin's  own  attempt  at  an  explana- 
tion by  the  theory  of  pangenesis,  or  genesis  from 
every  part.  He  saw  the  necessity  of  having  in  the 
sexual  cells  some  power  or  force  to  represent 
the  other  organs  and  functions  of  the  body,  else 
how  could  these  organs  be  formed  in  the  embryo  ? 
Pangenesis  was  supposed  to  be  accomplished  as 
follows  :  Every  organ  through  its  cells  gives  off 
gemmules.  These  are  inconceivably  small,  too  small 
for  any  microscopical  vision;  also  inconceivably 
great  in  numbers,  and  with  great  power  of  growth 
and  multiplication.  They  pass  from  the  various  or- 
gans in  which  they  are  formed  to  the  special  sex 
organs  for  generating  the  sexual  cells  ;  some  of 
them  are  stored  up  as  representatives  of  the  vari- 
ous organs  from  which  they  have  been  given  off. 
The  consequence  is  that  every  egg  has  in  it  some- 
thing from  every  organ  in  the  body  of  both  parents 
which  is  able,  during  gestation,  to  develop  into  that 
organ. 

According  to  this  theory,  for  instance,  if  no  gem- 
mules  are  given  off  from  the  brain,  then  no  brain  can 
be  developed  from  the  egg,  and  so  of  other  organs. 
As  in  a  representative  government,  all  parts  of  the 


106 

country  send  representatives  to  the  capitol  to  do 
the  bidding  of  the  people,  so  every  organ  of  the 
body  sends  representatives  to  the  sexual  cells  to 
form  their  respective  organs  ;  without  them  these 
organs  would  not  be  formed. 

There  are  many  objections  to  pangenesis,   but 
they  need  not  be  named  here.     It  occurred  to  Gal- 
ton,  whose  studies  in  heredity  have  been  more  pro- 
lific of  good  than  those  of  any  other  man,  to  test  it 
by  practical  experiment.     If  these  gemmules  are  cir- 
culating in  the  blood  of  animals  before  being  stored 
up  in  the  sexual  cells,  by  transfusing  blood  from 
one  variety  of  any  species  to  another  it  ought  to 
affect  the  offspring  of  this  other.     For  his  test  cases 
he  chose  eighteen   silvergrey   rabbits  which  breed 
true,  and  into  their  bodies  he  transfused  the  blood 
of  other  different  varieties,    in  several  cases   re- 
placing one-half  of  this  fluid.     There  were  eighty- 
six  offspring  bred  at  once   from  these   silvergrey 
rabbits,  and  all  true  silvergreys.     The   theory  did 
not  work.     But  if  it  did  not  work  in  practice,  it  cer- 
tainly worked  on  the  intellects  of  biologists  every- 
where, exactly  what  Darwin  wished  ;  it  set  them 
to  thinking.     It  acted  as  a  ferment,  so  to  say,  and 
brought  forth  a  rich  harvest  in  speculation  if  not  in 
actual  knowledge.* 

*  Darwin  did  not  regard  this  experiment  as  settling  this  question. 
He  had  great  affection,  so  to  speak,  for  this  poor,  despised  theory, 
and  believed  it  would  finally  be  established  as  in  the  main  true. 


107 

CONTINUITY  OF  THE  GERM-PLASM. — The  only  other 
theory  which  I  shall  mention  is  that  of  Weismann, 
which  has  been  before  the  public  for  more  than  a 
decade,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  it  has  produced  a  more 
profound  impression  upon  biologists  than  all  others. 
It  has  its  basis  in  what  he  calls  continuity  of  the 
germ-plasm.  By  the  germ-plasm  is  meant  that  part 
of  the  germ  cell  containing  all  the  chemical  and 
physical  properties,  including  the  molecular  struc- 
ture, which  enables  it  to  become,  under  appropriate 
conditions,  a  new  individual  of  the  same  species  as 
the  parents.  In  it  lies  hidden  all  the  characteristics 
both  of  the  species  and  of  the  future  individual. 
In  it  lies  all  the  phenomena  of  heredity.  It  is  the 
product  of  the  coalescence  of  the  male  and  female 
elements  requisite  for  reproduction.  Only,  how- 
ever, in  the  nuclear  substance  is  to  be  found  the 
hereditary  tendencies.  Now,  this  germ-plasm  is 
continuous,  that  is  to  say,  it  contains  not  only  ma- 
terial from  both  parents,  but  from  grandparents 
and  greatgrandparents,  and  so  on  indefinitely.  This 
germ-plasm  is  exceedingly  minute  in  quantity,  but 
has  great  power  of  growth.  Not  all  is  used  up  in 
the  production  of  any  individual,  but  some  is  left 
over  and  stored  up  for  the  next  generation.  The 
germ-plasm  might  be  represented  as  a  long  creep- 
ing root,  from  which  arise  at  intervals  all  the  in- 
dividuals of  successive  generations.  The  amount 
of  ancestral  germ-plasm  in  each  fertilized  ovum  is 


108 

calculated  in  the  same  way  that  stock  breeders  cal- 
culate the  amount  of  blood  of  any  ancestor  running 
in  any  individual.     For  instance:  The  germ-plasm 
contributed  by  the  father  and  mother  is  each  one- 
half  ;  each  grandparent  one  fourth,  and  so  on.    Ten 
generations   back  each  ancestor  contributes  only 
one  part  in  one  thousand  and  twenty-four  parts. 
This  continuity  has  by  some  been  called  the  im- 
mortality of  the  germ-plasm.      Theoretically,  the 
original  Adam  and  Eve  have  contributed  an  in- 
finitesimal part.     This  probably  explains  why  there 
is  so  much  of  the  original  Adam  in  most  of  us. 
By  it  we  are  able  to  explain  that  wonderful  fact  of 
atavism,  or  the  appearance  of  characters  from  a 
remote  ancestor  in  offspring.      Some  of  the  germ- 
plasm  from  this  ancestor  by  some  means  has  had 
an  opportunity  to  grow  rapidly  and  contribute  more 
than  its  share  in  the  production  of  the  individual  in 
which  it  appears. 

It  also  enables  us  to  explain  the  fact  that  no  two 
individuals  are  quite  alike,  but  that  there  is  con- 
stant variation.  Each  person  is  the  product  of  a 
multitude  of  ancestors,  and  the  germ-plasm  which 
produced  them  is  never  mixed,  in  quite  the  same 
proportion,  nor  do  the  different  parts  grow  with 
quite  the  same  vigor. 

It  was  on  this  theory  of  the  continuity  of  the 
germ-plasm  that  Weismann  built  his  doctrine  of  the 
non-transmission  of  acquired  characters.  On  this 


109 

subject  he  says:  "Hence  it  follows  that  the  trans- 
mission of  acquired  characters  is  an  impossibility, 
for  if  the  germ-plasm  is  not  formed  anew  in  each 
individual,  but  is  derived  from  that  which  preceded 
it,  its  structure,  and  above  all,  its  molecular  con- 
stitution, cannot  depend  upon  the  individual  in 
which  it  happens  to  occur,  but  such  an  individual 
only  forms,  as  it  were,  the  nutritive  soil  at  the  ex- 
pense of  which  it  grows,  while  the  latter  possessed 
its  character  from  the  beginning,  that  is,  before 
the  commencement  of  growth."  Of  this,  however, 
I  will  speak  later. 

A  RATIONAL  VIEW  OF  HEREDITY. — I  might  con- 
tinue giving  other  theories  of  heredity — Heckel's, 
for  instance — or  the  metaphysical  theory,  but  it  is 
hardly  necessary.  I  do  not  accept  in  full  any  of 
them.  Their  authors,  it  seems  to  me,  have  not 
worked  along  the  lines  of  evolution,  but  have  gone 
further  than  was  necessary  into  the  fields  of  specu- 
lation. Darwin,  in  his  theory  of  Pangenesis,  ad- 
mitted this  frankly,  and  yet  he  clung  to  the  idea 
with  great  tenacity.  If  we  take  the  unicellular 
organisms  which  multiply  by  division,  we  may  see 
that  heredity  is  simple.  One  unicellular  individual 
growing  larger  than  is  convenient,  divides  into  two. 
Each  is  like  the  other.  It  could  hardly  be  different. 
Reproduction  by  spores  or  buds  is  practically  the 
same  thing.  The  spores  or  buds  are  minute  parti- 


110 

cles  of  the  parent  organism.  When  it  comes  to  the 
coalescence  of  the  germ  and  sperm  elements  from 
two  organisms,  the  phenomena  become  more  com- 
plicated, and  it  is  still  more  so  as  the  animal  rises 
in  the  scale  of  creation  ;  but  I  believe  the  processes 
of  organic  evolution  have  gone  on  so  slowly  that 
the  sexual  cells  have  a£quir£d'the  power  to  trans- 
mit the  whole  organism  without  the  necessity  of 
the  germ-plasm  being  continued  from  parent  to 
offspring  indefinitely,  and  also  ^without  the  aid  of 
pangenesis. 

The  egg  has  acquired  a  tendency  to  develop  in  a 
certain  direction.  Just  how  we  cannot  tell,  further 
than  to  say  that  it  was  probably  the  result  of  vari- 
ation first  and  natural  selection  selecting  out  those 
variations  most  suitable.  It  is  this  tendency  to 
vary  that  gives  rise  to  many  of  the  phenomena  of 
heredity.  The  subject  is,  for  the  present,  beyond 
our  power  to  settle  satisfactorily,  and  so  hypotheses 
must  be  resorted  to.  The  sexual  cells,  compara- 
tively simple  in  anatomical  structure,  must  be 
highly  complex  in  their  molecular  structure  ;  and 
the  more  highly  evolved  the  organism,  the  more 
complex  becomes  this  molecular  structure.  If  it 
were  possible  to  study  this  molecular  structure  we 
should  be  able  to  understand  the  whole  subject  far 
better  than  is  possible  now.  But  this  is  not  possible, 
and  there  is  little  hope  that  we  shall  ever  be  able 
to  accomplish  it. 


Ill 

HEREDITY  AND  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CHILDREN. — 
The  next  question  which  comes  up  for  consideration 
is  that  of  the  education  of  children  and  its  relation  to 
heredity.      This  brings  us  at  once  to  the  problem  as 
to  whether  acquired  characters  are  transmitted  to 
offspring  or  not.     If  acquired  characters  are  trans- 
mitted, the  relation  of  heredity  to  education  must 
be  very  close  and  important.     If  acquired  charac- 
ters are  not  inherited,  then  heredity  and  education 
have  a  very  different  relation.    That  acquired  char- 
acters are  transmitted  has  long  been  believed.     It 
was  the  belief  of  Lamarck.     He  tried  to  explain  the 
structure  of  the  organism  by  this  principle.     The 
illustration  of  the  long  neck  of  the  giraffe  is  fa- 
miliar to  every  one.     It  originated  by  the  constant 
stretching  of  this  part  to  obtain  food  from  the  trees. 
In  times  of  scarcity,  he  had  to  exert  himself  in  this 
way  still  more  to  reach  the  higher  branches.     The 
young  of  the  giraffe  had  longer  necks  than  their 
parents  because  of  the  efforts  of  the  latter  in  this 
way.     So  the  keen  sight  of  birds,  it  was  argued, 
was  acquired  in  the  same  manner.     The  hawk  had 
to  exercise  his  eyes  most  vigorously  to  discern  his 
prey  at  a  distance,  and  his  offspring  inherited  this 
keenness  of  sight  acquired  by  the  exercise  of  his 
ancestors. 

Darwin  believed  that  the  effects  of  the  exercise 
of  any  part  were  transmitted.  He  says:  "We 
may  feel  assured  that  the  inherited  effects  of  the 


112 

list-  and  disuse  of  parts  will  have  done  much  in  the 
same  direction  with  natural  selection  in  modifying 
man's  structure  of  body." 

We  may  say  that  this  belief  has  been  held  by  the 
common  people,  uneducated  in  science.  They  not 
unfrequently  get  at  truths  in  a  rude  way  long  be- 
fore the  scientists  do.  Many  parents  tell  us  their 
children  are  strongly  influenced  by  some  particular 
occupation  of  the  mother  during  pregnancy.  So 
strong  is  this  belief,  that  many  mothers  are  in  our 
times  trying  to  influence  the  character  of  their  un- 
born children  by  special  modes  of  life,  by  cultivat- 
ing music  or  art,  or  science,  in  order  to  give  the 
child  a  love  for  these  pursuits. 

It  is  by  Herbert  Spencer  that  this  has  been  most 
ably  presented.  Indeed,  he  holds  that  there  is  no 
explanation  of  evolution  without  the  transmision  of 
the  effects  of  the  use  and  disuse  of  parts.  His 
words  are  :  * '  If  there  has  been  no  transmission  of 
acquired  character  there  has  been  no  evolution. " 

He  also  says  :  "  If  we  go  back  to  the  genesis  of 
the  human  type  from  some  lower  type  of  primates, 
we  see  that  while  the  little  toe  has  ceased  to  be  of 
any  use  for  climbing  purposes,  it  has  not  come  into 
any  considerable  use  for  walking  or  running.  It  is 
manifest  that  the  great  toes  have  been  immensely 
developed  since  there  took  place  the  change  from 
arboreal  to  terrestrial  habits.  A  study  of  the 
mechanism  of  walking  shows  why  this  has  hap- 


113 

pened.  Stability  requires  that  the  line  of  direction 
—the  vertical  line,  let  fall  from  the  center  of  gravi- 
ty— shall  fall  within  the  base,  and  the  walking  shall 
be  brought  at  each  step  within  the  area  of  support, 
or  so  near  that  any  tendency  to  fall  may  be  checked 
at  the  next  step.  A  necessary  result  is  that  if  at 
each  step  the  chief  stress  of  support  is  thrown  on 
the  outer  side  of  the  foot,  the  body  must  be  swayed 
so  that  the  line  of  direction  may  fall  within  the 
outside  of  the  foot,  or  close  to  it ;  and  when  the 
next  step  is  taken  it  must  be  similarly  swayed  in 
an  opposite  direction,  so  that  the  outer  side  of  the 
foot  may  bear  the  weight.  That  is  to  say,  the  body 
must  oscillate  from  side  to  side,  or  waddle.  The 
movement  of  the  duck  when  walking  shows  what 
happens  when  the  points  of  support  are  far  apart. 
This  kind  of  movement  conflicts  with  efficient  loco- 
motion. There  is  a  waste  of  muscular  energy  in 
making  these  lateral  movements,  and  they  are  at 
variance  with  the  forward  movement.  We  may 
infer,  then,  that  the  developing  man  profited  by 
throwing  the  stress  as  much  as  possible  on  the 
inner  side  of  the  feet,  and  was  especially  led  to  do 
this  when  going  fast,  which  enabled  him  to  abridge 
the  oscillations,  as  indeed  we  see  it  now  in  the 
drunken  man.  Then  there  was  thrown  a  continu- 
ally increasing  stress  upon  the  inner  digits  as  they 
progressively  developed  from  the  efforts  of  use, 
until  now  the  inner  digits,  so  large  compared  with 


114 

the  outer,  bear  the  greater  part  of  the  weight,  and 
being  relatively  near  one  another  render  needless 
any  swaying  of  the  body  from  side  to  side  in  walk- 
ing. But  what  has  meanwhile  happened  to  the 
outer  digits?  Evidently  as  fast  as  the  great  toes 
have  come  more  and  more  into  play  and  the  small 
ones  have  gone  more  and  more  out  of  play,  dwin- 
dling for — how  long  shall  we  say? — perhaps  100,000 
years."  In  other  and  simpler  words,  the  great  toe 
of  man  has  wonderfully  developed  since  he  began 
to  walk  upright.  This  has  been  from  greater  use, 
and  the  transmission  of  the  effects  of  this  use  to 
offspring.  The  small  toe  has  decreased  in  size  pro- 
portionately. This  we  can  reasonably  infer  has 
been  the  result  of  disuse,  the  effects  of  which  were 
also  transmitted  to  offspring. 

A  still  more  remarkable  illustration  of  the  effects 
of  use  and  disuse  is  seen  in  the  sense  of  touch  in 
different  parts  of  the  body.  Prof.  Weber,  in  his 
laboratory  for  experimental  psychology,  has  worked 
out  this  difference  most  minutely.  He  finds  that 
by  taking  a  pair  of  compasses,  the  points  of  which 
are  less  than  one-twelfth  of  an  inch  apart,  the  end 
of  the  forefinger  is  not  able  to  distinguish  more 
than  one  point.  Going  to  the  middle  of  the  back 
we  have  the  least  discriminating  power  in  the  skin, 
for  the  points  must  be  separated  two  and  one  half 
inches  before  the  nerves  can  decide  that  there  are 
two.  Any  one  may  test  this  on  himself.  Between 


115 

these  extremes  we  have  many  differences.  The 
end  of  the  nose  has  four  times  as  great  power  of 
discrimination  as  the  forehead.  When  we  come  to 
the  tip  of  the  tongue,  we  find  it  far  excels  any 
part  of  the  body  in  its  power  of  tactual  discrimi- 
nation, it  being  twice  that  of  the  forefinger.  In 
every  case  we  find  there  is  greatest  delicacy  of 
touch  in  those  parts  where  this  sense  has  been 
most  exercised.  The  tongue  is  being  constantly 
exercised  on  our  food,  on  the  roof  of  the  mouth, 
the  teeth,  etc.  It  is  rarely  idle.  There  is  in  man 
no  advantage  for  his  survival,  Mr.  Spencer  asserts, 
by  having  such  a  sensitive  tongue.  He  could  get 
on  just  as  well  without  it.  He  regards  it  as  a 
case  where  the  exercise  of  a  function  has  exalted 
it  remarkably,  and  this  exaltation  has  been  trans- 
mitted to  offspring.  Natural  selection,  he  thinks, 
is  not  sufficient  to  account  for  it.  Natural  selec- 
tion only  preserves  those  characters  which  will 
give  their  possessor  some  advantage  in  the  struggle 
for  existence. 

Still  another  argument  is  drawn  from  the  whale. 
This  monster  once  lived,  it  is  believed,  partly  on 
land,  probably  on  low  land  near  water,  and  must 
have  been  smaller  than  now.  It  had  hind  legs ; 
but  since  it  has  lived  continuously  in  the  water 
its  tail  has  so  developed  as  to  make  a  far  better 
organ  of  locomotion,  and  the  legs  have  dwindled 
from  disuse,  so  that  now  there  is  only  a  remnant 


110 

left,  and  this  is  hidden  beneath  the  skin.  The  tail 
has  become  more  efficient  from  use,  and  this  has 
been  transmitted  so  that  all  whales  are  born  with 
well  developed  tails.  The  legs  have  dwindled  for 
want  of  use  until  they  have  almost  disappeared ; 
and  this  effect  of  disuse  has  also  been  transmitted 
to  offspring. 

Another  illustration  is  furnished  by  Havelock 
Charles,  an  English  surgeon,  who  has  spent  much 
time  among  the  Punjab  tribes  in  India,  and  studied 
them  anthropologically.  His  account  is  given  in 
"The  Journal  of  Anatomy,"  in  a  paper  on  the 
structure  of  the  skeletons  of  these  people.  It  ap- 
pears they  have  facets  on  the  bones,  fitting  them 
for  the  sitting  posture.  These  do  not  develop  after 
birth,  but  are  seen  in  the  fetus.  It  seems  hardly 
possible  that  these  facets  could  have  any  other 
origin  except  by  transmission  after  being  acquired 
by  ages  of  use  of  sitting  posture. 

Another  argument  is  drawn  from  the  coadapta- 
tion  of  parts.  We  know  that  the  male  sheep,  like- 
wise the  goat,  the  stag,  and  the  males  of  many 
other  animals,  have  large  horns.  They  are  sup- 
posed to  be  useful  in  fighting  with  rivals  in  order 
to  secure  as  large  a  number  of  females  as  possi- 
ble. Now  these  large  horns  require  at  the  same 
time  a  greater  development  of  the  bones  of  the 
head  to  hold  them,  also  larger  and  stronger  verte- 
brae of  the  neck  and  back,  and  larger  muscles  of 


117 

these  parts  to  maintain  and  use  them  effectively. 
In  other  words,  there  must  be  coadaptation  of  all 
the  parts,  otherwise  these  larger  horns  would  be 
an  incumbrance  and  useless.     Now,  if  we  accept 
the  theory  of  the  inheritance  of  acquired  charac- 
ters, this  is  all  simple.     The  use  of  the  head  in 
butting  against  other    males    exercises    all    these 
parts  simultaneously,  and  they  develop  equally  and 
at  the  same  time.      If,  however,  inheritance  has 
no  part  in  the  matter,  then  we  must  fall  back  on 
variation  in  the  germ-plasm  and  natural  selection 
for  an  explanation  ;  but  it  is  difficult  or,  as  Spencer 
says,  impossible  to  conceive  of  variation  produc- 
ing large  and  heavy  horns  on  these  animals  and  at 
the  same  time  coadaptation  of  all  the  other  parts 
to  hold  and  use  them.      Sometimes  coadaptation 
does  not  take  place,  as  in  the  common  brook  crab, 
familiar  to  every  country  boy.      Its  foreclaws  or 
fingers  are  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  rest  of  the 
leg,  and  its  awkwardness  is  well  known.     The  lob- 
ster is  another  case.     Even  in  human  beings  we 
have  instances  of  non-coadaptation,  as  where  the 
head  and  brain  are  out  of  proportion  to  the  size 
of  the  body,  or  the  reverse.     I  need  not  multiply 
instances. 

Now,  if  acquired  characters  are  transmitted,  any 
system  of  training  which  exists  for  a  considerable 
time  must  necessarily  appear  in  the  structure  of 
the  body  and  in  the  character.  If  the  training  is 


118 

not  in  accord  with  the  laws  of  evolution,  it  causes 
the  race  to  deviate  from  the  true  line  of  progress, 
and  by  just  so  much  hinder  advancement.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  our  systems  of  education  conform 
to  correct  principles,  progress  is  advanced  by  them. 
Quite  recently  an  entirely  new  theory  has  grown 
up,  opposed  to  Lamarckianism,  and  the  theory  of 
the  transmission  of  acquired  characters.  It  has 
been  before  the  world  little  more  than  a  decade 
and  has  made  remarkable  progress,  though  it  is 
too  soon  to  say  it  has  been  established  beyond  dis- 
pute. Prof.  Weismann,  its  author,  is  well  equipped 
as  a  biologist  to  maintain  and  defend  it.  I  have 
already  stated  briefly  his  theory  of  heredity,  name- 
ly, that  the  germ-plasm  is  continuous  from  parent 
to  offspring.  This  necessitates  a  remodeling  of 
commonly  accepted  views,  an  entire  giving  up  of 
the  Lamarckian  belief  that  use  and  disuse  have 
their  effect  on  progeny.  If  the  germ-plasm  con- 
tinues from  one  generation  to  another,  then  it  must 
already  have  been  formed,  or  at  least  provided  for, 
even  before  the  birth  of  the  parents.  They  may 
modify  it,  through  growth  and  nutrition,  but  not 
through  exercise  of  any  function.  Prof.  Weis- 
mann went  at  the  demonstration  of  his  views  in 
a  thoroughly  scientific  way  by  the  making  of  ex- 
periments on  living  animals  and  the  collection  of 
facts.  From  his  experiments  it  is  now  pretty  well 
established  that  wounds  and  injuries,  which  he 


119 

considers  to  be  acquired  characters,  are  not  trans- 
mitted. No  matter  for  how  many  generations  you 
cut  off  the  tails  of  dogs,  cats,  horses  or  sheep,  the 
effects  of  this  removal  do  not  appear  in  the  progeny. 
Most  parents  have  some  mark  on  the  body,  received 
in  early  life,  some  cut  or  bruise,  some  scratch,  but 
their  children  do  not  inherit  them.  The  famous  ex- 
periment of  cutting  off  the  tails  of  mice,  for  gener- 
ation after  generation,  and  then  breeding  from  them 
was  one  of  Weismann's  methods  of  substantiating 
the  theory  that  acquired  character  is  not  inherited. 
The  offspring  of  these  mutilated  mice  had  as  long 
tails  as  if  those  of  their  parents  had  not  been  re- 
moved. The  explanation  is,  the  germ-plasm  was 
not  in  any  way  affected  by  the  bodily  mutilation. 
The  practice  of  the  Flathead  Indian  is  another 
case.  The  children  of  parents  whose  heads  have 
been  artificially  flattened  are  not  affected  by  it. 
The  small  feet  of  Chinese  women,  made  so  by 
binding  them  and  preventing  their  growth,  may 
also  be  mentioned. 

INTELLECTUAL  ACQUIREMENTS. — Not  to  depend  on 
such  evidence,  however,  he  adduces  that  of  a  very 
different  character,  namely,  the  non-transmission 
of  intellectual  acquirements.  Language  is  an  ex- 
ample. Although  human  beings  have  been  com- 
municating their  thoughts  to  each  other  from  very 
ancient  times  by  speech,  yet  every  child  has  to 


120 

learn  how  to  do  this  for  itself.  No  matter  how 
many  languages  the  parents  master,  their  children 
have  to  go  over  all  the  ground  the  parents  did, 
make  all  the  toil  and  effort  to  learn  to  speak.  Tho 
children  of  the  most  gifted  linguists,  if  brought  up 
without  coming  in  contact  with  those  who  can 
teach  them  to  talk,  will  never  learn  a  single 
word.  There  are,  it  is  claimed,  a  few  cases  on 
record  of  children  who  never  acquired  their  natural 
tongue  because  they  had  lived  among  animals  and 
not  among  human  beings.  They  learned  to  make 
the  same  vocal  sounds  the  animals  did,  no  more. 
The  environment  in  this  case  was  everything,  the 
parental  acquirements  nothing. 

Music,  like  language,  is  also  an  acquired  char- 
acter, and  it  is  probably  not  transmitted.  Our 
musical  geniuses  are  not  the  children  of  great  mu- 
sicians, but  in  most  cases  the  reverse.  They  seem 
to  spring  into  existence  from  lowly  sources,  or  at 
least  from  parents  whose  advantages  for  a  musical 
education  have  been  very  limited,  though  gener- 
ally they  have  had  good  health,  and  a  climatic 
environment  of  a  favorable  kind.  Great  musical 
talent  usually  dies  out  in  any  family  in  a  few  gen- 
erations, no  matter  how  much  it  is  cultivated,  or, 
if  it  does  not  die  out  entirely,  it  becomes  mediocre  ; 
and  yet  the  opportunities  of  the  children  of  great 
musicians,  and  the  ambition  of  their  parents  for  its 
culture,  are  usually  very  favorable. 


121 

INSTINCT. — In  accepting  the  theory  of  the  non- 
transmission  of  acquired  characters,  it  becomes 
necessary  to  give  up  prevailing  views  of  the  origin 
of  instinct.  According  to  the  old  belief  it  was  a 
.gift  of  God,  and  not  acquired  by  any  effort  on  the 
part  of  its  possessor.  In  speaking  of  the  instinct 
of  bees,  Sidney  Smith  says  :  "Providence  has  done 
it.  There  are  the  bees,  there  is  the  comb,  and  the 
honey,  get  rid  of  it  or  find  some  other  explanation 
if  you  can." 

The  early  evolutionists  changed  all  this,  and 
made  instinct  the  inheritance  of  an  oft-repeated 
act.  The  young  kitten,  as  soon  as  old  enough, 
hunts  for  a  mouse  and  catches  it  without  any  train- 
ing. The  sight  of  the  mouse  acts  on  its  nervous 
system  in  such  a  way  as  to  compel  it  to  creep  up 
softly,  jump  on  it,  toy  and  play  with  it,  and  finally 
kill  and  eat  it.  It  would  have  required  long  prac- 
tice on  the  part  of  its  ancestors  before  so  wonderful 
a  character  could  have  become  fixed.  The  same  is 
true  of  the  setter  dog. 

The  new  view  is,  that  instincts  arise  from  vari- 
ations in  the  germ-plasm.  The  union  of  the  germ 
elements  of  two  individuals  causes  it  to  vary  more 
or  less  from  either  parent.  These  variations  will 
be  favorable  and  unfavorable.  The  unfavorable 
ones  will  produce  offspring  handicapped  in  the 
struggle  for  life  and  they  will  disappear.  The  fa- 
vorable variations  will  produce  descendants  possess- 


122 

ing  advantages  for  survival  and  leave  numerous 
offspring. 

It  is  not  easy  to  accept  this  view,  but  I  think 
there  are  some  facts  that  support  it.  I  will  ad- 
vance a  few.  The  hive  of  the  honey-bee  contains 
three  kinds  of  insects  :  the  queen,  the  drones  or 
males,  and  the  workers.  The  queen  makes  her 
nuptial  flight  but  once  in  a  life-time,  and  does  it 
from  instinct.  How  can  an  instinct  like  this  have 
been  acquired  by  being  performed  but  once  ?  The 
drones  are  derived  from  unfertilized  eggs ;  yet 
their  instincts  are  those  of  the  male,  not  of  the  fe- 
male. As  they  have  no  male  ancestors,  it  seems 
probable  there  was  in  the  germ-plasm  of  some 
queen  bee,  at  a  time  far  back,  some  change  which 
allowed  unfertilized  eggs  to  produce  males. 

The  workers  are  all  females,  not  fully  developed 
sexually  on  account  of  a  diet  with  too  small  a  pro- 
portion of  nitrogenous  food  and  containing  so  large 
a  proportion  of  the   hydrocarbons.      They  inherit 
from  the  mother,  or  rather  from  the  germ-plasm, 
the  instinct  to  gather  honey,  yet  neither  their  male 
nor  female  ancestors  ever  gathered  any  honey  in 
their  lives,  nor  have  they  for  ages.     Far  back  in 
antiquity  the  queen,  no  doubt,  did  gather  honey, 
but  the  disuse  of  this  instinct  has  not  caused  it 
to  disappear  in  the  working  bee,  as  it  should  have 
done  according  to  the  Lamarckian  theory  of  disuse 
causing  decay  of  function.     Is  there  any  way  to 


123 

account  for  this,  except  on  the  theory  that  the 
germ-plasm  produces  working  bees  as  well  as  the 
other  kinds,  irrespective  of  the  habits  of  the  queen? 
Her  character  in  this  respect  is  fixed  and  does  not 
change.  Is  it  unreasonable  to  think  that  some  time 
in  the  past,  in  some  queen  bee,  was  formed  a  germ- 
plasm  capable  of  producing  three  varieties,  and 
that  there  was  such  an  advantage  in  it  for  sur- 
vival, that  it  has  been  continued  ever  since  by 
natural  selection  ?  Queens  not  able  to  do  this  have 
not  been  selected,  left  no  offspring,  and  thus  the 
perfection  of  the  stock  has  been  assured. 

One  more  case.  Some  years  ago,  when  inter- 
ested in  agricultural  entomology,  I  made  a  study 
of  the  so-called  seventeen-year  locust.  Noting  the 
wonderful  precision  with  which  the  female  cuts 
into  a  soft  twig  of  a  tree  and  lays  its  eggs  in  two 
rows,  the  thought  was  suggested  to  me,  how  can 
an  instinct,  used  only  a  few  hours,  once  in  seven- 
teen years,  be  acquired  by  exercise  and  persist  in 
the  offspring  seventeen  years  later?  Weismann's 
theory  of  the  origin  of  instinct  from  favorable  vari- 
ations in  the  germ-plasm  offers,  it  seems  to  me,  a 
rational  explanation. 

I  do  not  need  to  extend  illustrations  which 
abound  in  the  insect  world,  especially  among  the 
ants,  which  furnish  cases  of  coadaptation  that 
cannot  be  transmitted,  as  they  do  not  propagate, 
so  I  will  not  mention  them  here. 


124 

Now,  if  acquired  characters  are  not  transmitted 
to  offspring,  how  should  these  facts  affect  our 
methods  of  educating  children  ? 

One  advantage  will  be  evident,  I  think,  to  all. 
Erroneous  systems  of  training,  which  do  not  injure 
the  health,  will  not  appear  through  heredity  in  the 
offspring  of  parents  thus  wrongly  trained,  except 
as  a  result  of  environment.  That  is  to  say,  the 
injury  does  not  become  congenital — will  not  be  in 
the  blood — and,  consequently,  it  will  be  less  diffi- 
cult to  eradicate  it  and  to  introduce  better  systems. 
This  may  be  considered  an  advantage.  But  it  is 
not  all.  If  heredity  takes  place  only  through  the 
germ-plasm,  then  it  seems  to  me  that  whatever 
promotes  a  knowledge  of  how  to  maintain  it  in  a 
high  degree  of  health,  and  how  to  favor  more  per- 
fectly natural  selection,  are  subjects  with  which 
our  educators  may  busy  themselves  far  more  than 
they  do.  That  is  to  say,  the  study  of  biology,  of 
life — of  the  laws  of  human  growth  and  develop- 
ment, and  of  evolution,  will  become,  more  and 
more,  important  factors  in  our  school  curriculum. 
We  can  hardly  imagine  how  much  our  common 
every-day  life  has  been  aided  by  even  the  slight 
knowledge  of  mathematics  gained  by  an  acquaint- 
ance with  addition,  subtraction,  multiplication  and 
division.  By  it  we  are  able  to  keep  our  little  ac- 
counts correctly,  and  neither  cheat  our  creditors 
nor  be  cheated  by  them.  Could  we  not  by  a  knowl- 


125 

edge  of  the  laws  of  evolution,  and  also  the  laws 
of  growth  and  development,  keep  our  larger  ac- 
count with  nature  in  a  far  better  condition  ?  Could 
we  not  keep  ourselves  from  being  cheated  out  of 
our  health  and  happiness,  and  also  do  something 
to  put  an  end  to  physical,  intellectual  and  moral 
deterioration  which  threatens  so  many  families  and 
even  races?  It  seems  to  me  that  the  time  is  not 
far  distant  when  these  studies  will  be  quite  as 
much  attended  to  as  the  not  unimportant  ones  of 
arithmetic  and  grammar. 

KNOWLEDGE  OF  HEREDITY. — Whatever  doctrine 
of  heredity  prevails,  however,  one  thing  is  certain, 
some  knowledge  of  the  subject  will  be  very  useful 
to  those  who  have  in  care  the  training  of  children. 
To  them,  often  more  than  to  the  parent,  is  en- 
trusted the  task  of  developing  the  character  and 
the  individuality  of  the  child.  Can  he  do  this  well 
if  he  knows  nothing  of  what  the  bent  of  the  child's 
genius  from  ancestral  influence  is  ?  I  doubt  very 
much  if  any  of  us  realize  how  important  it  is  that 
this  individuality  should  have  its  proper  share  of 
attention.  As  the  evolution  of  society  goes  on, 
more  and  more  must  there  be  differentiation  of  our 
various  activities.  If  every  boy  and  every  girl 
can  be  educated  so  that  to  a  considerable  extent 
they  can  follow  the  bent  of  their  genius,  ivhenever 
that  bent  is  a  normal  one,  will  not  the  available 


120 

intellectual  and  moral  energy  of  society  be  con- 
siderably augmented?  If  you  educate  a  boy  which 
nature  intended  for  a  blacksmith  for  a  preacher, 
has  not  the  world  lost  something  ?  Educate  another 
for  a  blacksmith  who  should  have  been  a  preacher, 
is  there  not  also  a  great  loss?  There  are  a  few 
children  who  will  come  out  all  right,  no  matter 
how  much  they  are  schooled,  or  whether  they  have 
any  schooling,  so  well  have  they  been  born,  but 
with  the  majority  this  is  not  the  case.  Now  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  teacher  who  knows  the 
natures  of  his  pupils,  and  something  of  their  an- 
cestors', can  direct  their  energies  more  satisfac- 
torily than  the  one  who  does  not.  If  there  are 
hereditary  defects  of  intellect  or  morals,  he  can 
more  easily  correct  them.  If  there  are  ancestral 
tendencies  to  disease  through  imperfections  of  cer- 
tain organs,  for  instance,  the  lungs  or  the  brain, 
he  can  often  put  the  child  on  such  a  course  of 
physical  culture  or  mental  training  as  to  lift  it 
above  danger,  so  that  it  may  go  through  life  a 
useful  person  instead  of  a  feeble  one  or  a  lunatic. 
Even  the  tendency  to  crime  might  be  averted. 

INDIVIDUALITY. — If  we  could  educate  the  young 
so  as  to  bring  out  more  fully  their  normal  indi- 
vidualities we  should  be  able  to  cultivate  in  them 
more  independence  of  character.  On  this  subject 
Prof.  Mills  says  :  "  With  all  its  imperfections,  I  am 


127 

bound  to  say  that  the  individuality  of  the  pupils 
in  the  old  log  school-house  was  often  more  devel- 
oped than  in  the  city  public  schools  of  today, 
where  for  a  boy  to  be  himself  frequently  brings 
with  it  the  ridicule  of  his  fellows — a  condition  of 
things  that  has  its  effect  afterward  on  the  lad  at 
college.  I  find  that  this  fear  of  being  considered 
odd, — out  of  harmony  with  what  others  may 
think, — one  of  the  greatest  drawbacks  to  the  de- 
velopment of  independent  investigating  students 
at  college.  The  case  is  still  worse  for  girls.  When 
women  begin  to  be  really  independent  in  thought, 
in  feeling,  in  action,  I  shall  be  more  hopeful  of  the 
progress  of  mankind.  Happily,  the  dawn  of  this 
day  is  already  begun." 

We  must  not  forget  that  there  is  also  a  spectre 
of  heredity.  It  is  seen  under  different  forms.  The 
physician  is  often  reminded  by  his  patients  that 
they  have  inherited  this  or  that  disease  from 
father  or  mother,  or  an  ancestor  farther  back. 
Now,  there  are  few  diseases  which  come  to  us 
directly  through  inheritance.  In  a  majority  of 
cases  they  are  not  transmitted.  Even  consumption 
is  not.  If  we  accept  the  modern  theory  of  its 
origin,  as  we  must,  this  plague  is  the  result  of 
germs  floating  in  the  air  being  introduced  into  our 
bodies  by  respiration,  or  in  food,  or  through  con- 
tact with  abraided  surfaces.  Those  with  weakened 
constitutions  are  more  liable  to  it  than  the  strong, 


128 

and  a  weakened  constitution  may  be  inherited,  for 
in  this  case  the  germ-plasm  will  not  be  well  nour- 
ished and  will  suffer;  but  those  thus  handicapped 
in  the  race  of  life  will  get  on  far  better  by  endow- 
ing themselves  with  knowledge  and  obeying  the 
laws  of  life  than  they  can  by  living  under  the 
shadow  of  the  great  spectre  of  heredity,  and  cast- 
ing anathemas  at  their  ancestors  for  not  having 
done  more  for  them.  No  doubt  most  of  them  have 
done  the  best  they  could ;  and  if  life  is  worth  liv- 
ing, as  most  of  us  believe,  we  owe  them  many 
thanks  for  having  brought  us  into  the  world. 

THE  SPECTRE  OF  HEREDITY. — There  is  a  spectre 
of  heredity  of  a  more  serious  nature.  It  is  the 
spirit  of  the  dead  past,  with  its  mighty  hand  on 
society,  on  institutions,  on  modes  of  life.  Wendell 
Phillips  used  to  tell  a  story,  in  his  anti-slavery 
addresses,  which  illustrates  the  evil  effect  of  this 
inherited  spectre.  It  ran  in  this  wise.  In  an  East- 
ern temple,  an  idol,  in  the  image  of  a  god,  stood 
calmly  on  its  pedestal.  It  was  sacrilege  to  touch 
it  with  human  hands  ;  but  rats  having  no  such 
feelings  of  awe  in  the  presence  of  a  deity,  began 
to  gnaw  about  it  in  various  places,  yet  no  one  was 
bold  enough  to  remove  it  to  a  place  of  safety  ;  and 
so  the  rats  gnawed  on  and  on,  and  built  their  nests 
within  the  sacred  image.  In  time  they  loosened 
it  from  its  firm  foundation,  and  one  morning,  when 


129 

the  worshippers  came  in  to  pay  their  devotions, 
they  found  their  god  had  fallen  prostrate  on  the 
floor.  So  it  is  sometimes  with  our  inherited  be- 
liefs. They  hold  us  back  from  progress  like  a 
heavy  weight.  We  fear  to  remove  them,  for  they 
are  sacred  inheritances,  idols,  gods,  and  so  our 
institutions  decay,  perish. 


EVOLUTION'S    HOPEFUL    PROMISE    FOR    A 
HEALTHIER    RACE. 

Given  be/ore  the  Greenacre  Conference  of  Evolutionists. 

We  have  most  of  us  in  the  past  looked  upon 
health  as  a  matter  of  inheritance,  or  temperance 
and  moderation  in  working,  in  eating  and  drink- 
ing ;  or  as  depending  on  climate  ;  or  exercise,  or 
plenty  of  sleep,  pure  water  and  a  morning  bath,  or 
some  other  secret,  one  or  more  of  which  is  pretty 
sure  to  be  in  the  possession  of  most  persons  who 
have  lived  long  enough  to  have  had  some  experi- 
ence with  those  things  that  do  them  good  or  harm. 
All  these  agencies  have  great  value  ;  but  I  think 
few  of  us  realize  that  nature,  through  the  laws  of 
evolution,  has  long  been  working  to  produce  a 
brave  and  strong,  healthy  and  hardy  race  of  men 
and  women  by  other  methods  than  those  health 
habits  which  most  of  us  value  so  highly. 

Nature  has  been  doing  this  chiefly  by  two  meth- 
ods, and  it  seems  necessary  that  I  should  say  some- 
thing about  them  in  order  to  present  my  subject 
as  I  wish  to  present  it.  The  methods  to  which  I 
refer  are  those  of  sexual  and  natural  selection.  It 
is  to  these  two  processes  that  we  are  largely  in- 


131 

debted  for  race  improvements — more  perfect  bodies, 
more  active  brains,  and  the  high  degree  of  health 
which  a  considerable  portion  of  the  race  enjoys. 

SEXUAL  SELECTION. — By  sexual  selection  is  meant 
that  preference  which  the  male  or  the  female  has 
for  certain  characteristics  of  the  other  sex.  It  also 
includes  the  advantages  which  the  stronger  and 
more  capable  male  has  over  the  weaker  one  in  ob- 
taining a  choice,  or,  among  polygamous  animals, 
a  larger  number  of  females,  thus  allowing  offspring 
to  be  generated  by  the  most  capable,  and  prevent- 
ing the  most  incapable  from  procuring  mates. 

The  first  principle  of  sexual  selection,  that  of 
preference,  would  imply  a  considerable  develop- 
ment of  the  intellect,  and  some  taste,  but  I  do  not 
think  it  has  had  great  influence  on  the  lower  forms 
of  life.  It  is  difficult  to  study  the  preferences  of 
insects,  for  instance  ;  but  I  have  studied  the  moth 
of  the  silkworm,  and  could  never  observe  that 
either  male  or  female  had  a  choice  for  any  par- 
ticular mate.  They  always  appear  to  take  the  first 
one  that  comes  along.  I  think  this  is  the  conclusion 
come  to  by  those  entomologists  who  have  had  op- 
portunities for  studying  other  insects.  The  spider 
might  perhaps  be  studied  in  this  relation  to  ad- 
vantage, as  the  female  is  ferocious,  often  eating 
her  male  suitors  while  they  are  trying  to  woo  her. 
Nor  do  I  believe  that  it  is  a  very  important  matter 


132 

in  many  other  animals.  Certainly  among  the  domes- 
tic ones — the  sheep,  the  horse,  the  hull  and  the 
cow — a  superior  male  and  female  will  mate  with 
inferior  ones  of  the  opposite  sex,  apparently  with- 
out the  slightest  objection.  I  have  sometimes 
thought  I  had  observed  in  pigeons  a  preference, 
having  occasionally  seen  a  male  leave  his  mate  for 
a  more  attractive  female  ;  at  least  one  that  seemed 
more  attractive  to  me. 

When  it  comes  to  sexual  selection  through  strug- 
gle, no  doubt  there  has  been  great  advantage,  and 
it  has  produced  important  effects.  This  occurs 
among  polygamous  and  also  among  non-polyga- 
mous animals,  and  the  strong  males  are  certain  to 
secure  the  largest  number  of  females  and,  conse- 
quently, leave  the  largest  number  of  offspring. 
This  would,  no  doubt,  through  the  laws  of  inherit- 
ance, be  beneficial  in  producing  animals  of  greater 
vigor  and  more  perfect  health.  But  even  in  this 
case,  the  males  seem  to  have  little  preference  for 
any  particular  female  ;  and  so  while  the  least  vig- 
orous ones  would  leave  few,  and  many  no  off- 
spring, the  least  vigorous  females  would  leave 
nearly  as  many  as  the  more  vigorous  ones.  Still, 
through  pure-blooded  males  alone,  stockbreeders 
tell  us,  herds  of  cattle  can  be  brought  up  to  a  high 
degree  of  perfection  in  three  or  four  generations, 
even  if  the  females,  at  the  beginning  of  the  ex- 
periment, are  inferior.  The  first  generation  would 


133 

be  half  pure  blood ;  the  second  three-fourths  ;  the 
third,  seven-eighths,  and  the  fourth  fifteen-six- 
teenths, or  almost  thoroughbred. 

When  it  comes  to  man,  however,  the  case  is  dif- 
ferent. With  him  sexual  selection  is  more  import- 
ant, and  the  preference  shown  by  both  sexes  is 
very  marked.  Many  women  have  strong  preju- 
dices against  marrying  men  with  certain  charac- 
teristics, and  nothing  will  induce  them  to  such  a 
union.  So  strong  are  the  desires  many  of  them 
have  for  mates  with  particular  qualities,  that  they 
prefer  to  remain  single  rather  than  marry  one  not 
possessing  these  qualities.  Through  this  prefer- 
ence, on  the  whole,  the  better  and  those  most  adapt- 
ed mate  with  those  most  suited  to  them,  and  a  con- 
siderably larger  class  of  physically  and  mentally 
inferior  ones  do  not  mate  at  all,  or,  if  they  do, 
leave  few  offspring.  The  idiot  would  stand  no 
chance  of  securing  a  mate,  although,  if  left  free, 
he  would  unite  with  another  idiot,  like  an  animal. 
Such  things  have  happened,  and  the  offspring  were 
not  idiots,  as  might  have  been  expected  ;  but  they 
were  not  superior  beings.  The  most  deformed  in 
body  would,  in  most  cases,  unless  they  had  mental 
traits  of  a  high  order  to  counterbalance  them, 
rarely  find  mates.  Thus,  through  this  agency, 
some  of  the  poorest  specimens  of  both  sexes  do  not 
produce  offspring,  and  this  raises  the  standard  of 
the  health  and  ability  of  the  race. 


134 

There  are  many  characters  which  have  come  into 
existence,  it  is  believed,  through  sexual  selection. 
One  is  beauty  in  women,  greater  beauty  of  form, 
of  hair,  of  eyes,  of  grace,  fidelity,  chastity,  power 
of  love,  etc.  These  all  give  pleasure  to  the  oppo- 
site sex,  and  have  an  element  of  usefulness  in 
them.  Whenever  these  characters  have  appeared 
in  women  they  have  given  the  possessors  a  better 
chance  to  find  a  partner  with  superior  characters. 
The  same  is  true  of  men.  Woman  being  debarred 
from  the  hardest  labor  through  maternity  has 
found  it  useful,  even  in  early  times,  to  choose  men 
who  were  strong,  brave,  courageous  and  capable 
of  defending  and  caring  for  her,  so  far  as  was  pos- 
sible, and  thus  by  sexual  selection  she  has  indirect- 
ly promoted  health  and  vigor  in  man,  for  these 
qualities  are  inseparable  from  it. 

But  the  results  of  sexual  selection  are  by  no 
means  perfect.  The  sexes  are  nearly  equally  di- 
vided, and  as  polygamy  is  not  to  any  great  extent 
practiced  among  human  beings,  with  the  exception 
of  those  already  named,  most  men  and  women  can 
find  mates  if  they  wish,  even  though  they  may  have 
many  serious  imperfections  of  body  and  mind,  and 
from  them  many  children  will  be  born  physically 
and  mentally  incompetent. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  sexual  selection  is  coming 
more  and  more  into  play,  however.  We  have 
abundant  evidence  of  this  in  the  growing  senti- 


135 

ment  against  the  marriage  of  those  with  a  ten- 
dency to  any  serious  disease,  as  insanity,  syphilis, 
etc.  Only  a  little  while  ago  was  published  an  ac- 
count of  a  suit  for  a  breach  of  promise  brought 
by  a  young  woman  in  an  English  court  against  her 
suitor.  He,  having  in  view  the  value  of  a  healthy 
wife,  and  also  of  children  well  endowed  physically, 
asked  her  before  the  engagement  if  any  of  her  near 
relatives  had  died  of  consumption,  and  she  replied 
that  none  had,  which  he  afterwards  found  was  not 
true.  On  learning  of  it  he  refused  to  marry  her. 
I  am  sorry  to  say  that  she  won  her  suit.  One  of 
the  questions  asked  in  court  was  :  "  Is  it  possible 
that  a  lover  would  ask  such  questions  of  his  sweet- 
heart as  would  be  asked  of  a  candidate  for  life 
insurance?" 

Courtship  is  such  a  delightful  occupation  for  the 
young,  that  it  seems  a  pity  to  mar  it  by  bringing 
in  questions  of  health.  Yet  men  and  women  are 
often  such  deceivers,  and  frequently  so  ignorant, 
that  some  way  must  be  devised  to  prevent  decep- 
tion if  sexual  selection  is  ever  expected  to  have  its 
full  influence  on  race  improvement. 

HUMAN  SELECTION. — Under  the  head  of  human 
selection  Galton  and  Wallace  have  made  some  in- 
teresting and  valuable  suggestions  for  improving 
the  health  and  quality  of  man.  Mr.  Galton  pro- 
posed a  system  of  marks  for  family  health,  intel- 


136 

lect  and  morals,  and  those  members  of  families 
having  the  highest  number  were  to  be  encouraged 
to  marry  early  by  state  endowments  sufficient  to 
enable  them  to  make  a  good  start  in  life,  early 
marriages  being  favorable  to  large  families.  It 
was  a  bold  suggestion,  savoring  too  strongly  of 
socialism  or  state  control  of  marriage  to  suit  many 
of  us. 

Professor  Wallace's  plan  is  that  women  shall,  so 
far  as  possible,  be  made  independent,  so  that  they 
will  not  feel  the  necessity  of  marrying  for  a  home. 
Her  time  might  be  occupied  either  in  public  duties 
or  self-culture,  or  any  occupation  she  might  prefer. 
She  should  be  educated  to  believe  it  degrading  to 
marry  for  a  home,  without  love  and  adaptation, 
and  equally  wrong  to  marry  her  inferior.  This 
would  compel  men  to  be  more  manly,  to  leave  off 
their  bad  habits  and  many  vices,  in  order  to  obtain 
wives ;  and  the  idle,  selfish,  sickly  and  deformed 
would  not  easily  get  them.  One  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  carrying  out  this  plan  is  the  greater  num- 
ber of  women  in  society  as  it  exists  today,  owing 
to  the  larger  mortality  among  boys.  But  by  a  bet- 
ter hygiene  which  is  likely  to  result  from  the  evo- 
lution of  the  race,  this  greater  mortality  of  the 
masculine  sex  is  certain  in  the  future  to  be  pre- 
vented, and  there  will  then  be  an  excess  of  men 
instead  of  women.  This  will  be  a  real  advantage, 
for  a  scarcity  of  women  would  give  her  a  greater 


137 

influence  in  selection,  and  the  result  would  be,  the 
worst  men  would  not  be  able  to  get  wives. 

Being  in  a  minority,  women  would  be  held  in 
higher  esteem,  be  more  sought  for,  and  have  a  real 
choice  in  marriage  by  being  able  to  reject  unsatis- 
factory suitors,  which  is  certainly  not  the  case  now 
to  any  considerable  extent. 

Mr.  Wallace's  plan  would  not  require  such  early 
marriages  as  that  of  Mr.  Galton's,  and  this  would 
be  a  positive  benefit  to  the  physical  vigor  of  the 
children,  for  we  know  that  the  progeny  of  too  early 
marriages  are  more  delicate,  and  reproduction  be- 
fore bodily  maturity  lowers  the  standard  of  health 
in  parents  as  well  as  of  their  offspring.  Marriage 
being  delayed,  and  the  culture  of  the  mind  being 
more  attended  to  than  is  possible  when  it  is  early, 
would  reduce  the  number  of  children  in  any  fami- 
ly, and  this  would  enable  parents  to  bestow  more 
care  upon  them.  It  would  also  prevent,  to  a  lim- 
ited extent,  over-multiplication  of  the  race,  which 
is  a  real  evil,  for  if  every  couple  left  three  or  four 
children  the  whole  world  would  soon  be  full,  and 
over-population  would  result  in  much  disease. 

Mr.  Wallace's  scheme  has  in  view  the  prevention 
of  marriage  by  the  weak  and  worthless.  He  be- 
lieves that  if  this  can  be  done  little  more  will  be 
required,  for  the  superior  would  be  the  only  ones  to 
procreate,  and  this  would  be  quite  sufficient  in  a 
few  generations  to  produce  a  strong  and  healthy 


138 

race.  He  calls  his  plan  that  of  "  human  selec- 
tion," but  it  may  be  considered  practically  as  a 
modification  of  sexual  selection. 

NATURAL  SELECTION. — Natural  selection  is  an- 
other process  which  takes  place  on  an  enormous 
scale  and  constantly  among  all  organisms,  whether 
animal  or  vegetable.  Natural  selection  is  the  re- 
sult of  the  operation  of  certain  laws  in  the  natural 
world  which  brings  about  the  survival  of  those  best 
fitted  for  their  environment.  It  is  a  weeding-out 
system  by  the  destruction  of  a  certain  portion,  at 
least,  if  not  all,  of  the  weak  and  the  bad,  and  it 
occurs  because  there  is  such  a  rapid  increase  of 
most  organisms.  We  speak  of  it  as  the  survival 
of  the  fittest,  but  it  is  also,  at  the  same  time,  the 
destruction  of  the  unfit. 

Mr.  Darwin  says:  "We  have  seen  that  man  is 
variable  in  body  and  mind,  and  that  the  variations 
are  induced  either  directly  or  indirectly  by  the 
same  general  causes,  and  obey  the  same  general 
laws  as  with  the  lower  animals.  Man  has  spread 
widely  over  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  must  have 
been  exposed  during  his  incessant  migrations  to 
the  most  diversified  conditions.  They  must  have 
passed  through  many  climates  and  changed  their 
habits  many  times  before  they  reached  their  pre- 
sent homes.  They  must  have  been  exposed  to 
a  struggle  for  existence  and,  consequently,  to  the 


139 

rigid  law  of  natural  selection.  Beneficial  variations 
of  all  kinds  have  been  preserved  and  injurious  ones 
eliminated.  If,  then,  the  progenitors  of  man,  in- 
habiting any  district,  especially  one  undergoing 
some  changed  conditions,  were  divided  into  two 
equal  bodies,  the  one-half  including  those  with  the 
best  adapted  powers  for  movement,  for  gaining 
a  subsistence,  for  self-defence,  would,  on  the  aver- 
age, have  more  offspring  than  the  other  and  the 
less  well  endowed  half. " 

We  may  have  a  good  object  lesson  in  the  elimi- 
nation of  the  unfit  going  on  about  us  constantly. 
In  New  York  City,  for  1891,  the  deaths  of  children 
under  five  years  of  age  was  18,112;  for  1892  it  was 
17,577,  or  slightly  less.  This  is  more  than  one- 
third,  but  not  quite  one-half,  of  the  total  deaths  at 
all  ages  for  these  years.  A  very  large  proportion 
of  these  deaths  occurred  in  the  tenement  house 
districts,  and  a  very  natural  question  arises  in  the 
mind :  Are  the  children  of  those  who  live  in  tene- 
ment houses  more  unfit  to  survive  than  those  who 
live  in  houses  in  which  only  one  family  dwells. 
No  doubt  in  most  cases  the  children  of  those  are 
most  fit  who  are  most  able  to  provide  them  with 
hygienic  surroundings,  the  better  food  and  most 
suitable  care ;  such  are  usually  the  prudent  and  the 
capable.  The  love  of  children  is  usually  stronger 
in  them.  The  intelligent  affection  of  parents  for 
their  young  is  one  of  the  incentives  to  their  best 


140 

training.  It  certainly  is  not  nearly  so  strong 
among  the  residents  of  the  crowded  quarters  of  a 
city  as  among  the  more  prosperous.  Any  one  may 
observe  this  by  going  with  a  company  of  mothers 
on  the  excursions  of  some  fresh  air  society,  which 
may  be  seen  in  most  cities.  It  is  hard  to  find  one 
of  these  mothers  who  shows  what  we  may  call  in- 
telligent affection  or  intelligent  care  of  her  young. 
Some  pathetic  instances  illustrating  this  might  be 
mentioned. 

When  it  comes  to  the  question  of  their  physical 
or  mental  inferiority,  a  cursory  inspection  is  all 
that  is  required  to  show  they  are  far  below  the 
average.  There  is  a  great  want  of  symmetry  of 
body  and  mind — evidence  of  degeneration.  In  or- 
der to  test  the  strength  of  constitution,  which  is  a 
good  way  to  get  at  one  form  of  physical  fitness  for 
survival,  it  seems  to  me,  I  made  a  study  of  the 
blood  of  a  considerable  number  of  these  children 
and  found  the  amount  of  protoplasm  in  the  color- 
less blood  corpuscles  deficient.  This  shows  that 
their  power  to  resist  disease  is  slight.  It  must  be 
borne  in  mind,  however,  that  a  strong  constitution 
alone  is  not  evidence  of  fitness  for  survival.  A 
strong  person  may  not  have  prudence,  foresight, 
keenness  of  perception,  judgment,  and  many  other 
qualities  equally  important.  The  characters  just 
mentioned  may  constitute  fitness  when  there  is 
only  a  moderately  vigorous  body.  Mr.  Darwin 


141 

recognized  this  when  he  said:  "  We  should  bear  in 
mind  that  an  animal  possessing  great  size,  strength 
and  ferocity,  and  which,  like  the  gorilla,  could  de- 
fend itself  from  all  enemies  would  not,  perhaps, 
have  become  sufficiently  social,  and  this  would 
effectually  have  checked  the  acquirement  of  the 
higher  mental  qualities,  such  as  the  sympathy  and 
love  of  his  fellows.  Hence,  it  might  have  been  of 
immense  advantage  to  men  to  have  sprung  from 
some  comparatively  iveak  but  social  creature." 

Fitness  is  a  complicated  condition  and  not  a  sim- 
ple one.  It  depends  upon  so  many  external  con- 
ditions. Fitness  in  one  place  would  be  unfitness  in 
another.  Still,  other  things  being  equal,  strength 
of  constitution  is  a  very  important  factor,  and  must 
not  be  left  out  of  consideration.  With  it  there  is  a 
surplus  of  material  in  the  body  beyond  what  is  re- 
quired for  digestion,  assimilation,  circulation  and 
other  bodily  functions,  to  enable  the  parents  not 
only  to  do  hard  labor,  but  also  to  endow  their  off- 
spring with  vigor  equal  to  their  own,  often  greater 
vigor.  The  feeble  individuals  will  have  a  small 
amount  of  stored  up  material  in  their  bodies  which 
we  may  designate  as  physiological  capital  to  give 
continous  food,  warmth  and  protection  to  their 
young ;  they  will  not  be  so  well  adjusted  to  their 
environment,  and,  consequently,  natural  selection 
will  cause  their  non-survival — or  their  offspring,  if 
not  immediately,  at  no  distant  period. 


142 

This  doctrine  of  natural  selection  has  been  desig- 
nated as  cruel,  harsh,  inexorable,  and  under  the 
influence  of  the  human  feeling  every  effort  is  in 
our  time  being  made  to  prevent  this  wholesome 
check  upon  ths  processes  of  nature  from  having  its 
due  influence  upon  evolution  and  race  progress. 
Modern  hygiene  undertakes  to  put  an  end  to  dis- 
ease, to  save  all  who  are  born,  to  surround  them 
with  every  influence  which  can  favor  their  health 
and  development.  It  would  stamp  out  diphtheria, 
scarlet  fever,  summer  complaint,  consumption  and 
a  host  of  other  diseases  which  now  decimate  the 
ranks  of  the  unfit,  and  often,  no  doubt,  of  the  com- 
paratively fit.  This  would  perpetuate  a  type  of 
feeble,  unhealthy  persons.  There  would  not  be 
much  hope  of  more  perfect  health  for  the  race  if 
our  hygienists  could  carry  out  this  daring  scheme 
along  the  lines  now  working.  There  seems  an  an- 
tagonism between  nature's  methods  of  bettering 
the  physical  condition  of  the  race  and  the  efforts 
of  man  himself,  acting  under  the  guidance  of  his 
moral  feelings,  to  prevent  the  action  of  natural 
law.  Mr.  Darwin  recognized  this,  and  referred  to 
it  in  his  great  work,  "  The  Descent  of  Man,"  where 
he  says:  "With  savages,  the  weak  in  body  and 
mind  are  soon  eliminated,  and  those  that  survive 
commonly  exhibit  a  vigorous  state  of  health.  We 
civilized  men,  on  the  other  hand,  do  our  utmost  to 
check  the  process  of  elimination.  We  build  asy- 


143 

lums  for  the  imbeciles,  the  maimed  and  the  sick ; 
we  institute  poor  laws  ;  and  our  medical  men  exert 
their  utmost  skill  to  save  the  life  of  every  one  to 
the  last  moment." 

''There  is,"  says  he,  "reason  to  believe  that 
vaccination  has  preserved  thousands  who  from  a 
weak  constitution  would  have  succumbed  to  small- 
pox. Thus  the  weak  members  of  civilized  com- 
munities propagate  their  kind.  No  one  who  has 
attended  to  the  breeding  of  domestic  animals  will 
doubt  but  this  must  be  highly  injurious  to  the 
human  race.  Excepting  in  the  case  of  man  him- 
self hardly  any  one  is  so  ignorant  as  to  allow  his 
worst  animals  to  breed." 

Other  evolutionists,  in  more  recent  times,  have 
taken  a  still  more  somber  view  of  this  danger  of 
race  deterioration  through  the  prevention  of  the 
full  action  of  the  law  of  natural  selection. 

Dr.  John  Berry  Haycraft,  in  a  recent  work  en- 
titled "  Darwinism  and  Race  Progress,"  has  sound- 
ed the  alarm  in  no  uncertain  tones.  He  says: 
"Races,  therefore,  subject  to  epidemics  of  a  par- 
ticular fever,  suffer  selections  in  the  hands  of  the 
microbes  of  that  fever,  and  those  living  are  sur- 
vivals, cast  in  the  most  resisting  mould.  It  may 
not  be  flattering  to  our  national  vanity  to  look  upon 
ourselves  as  the  product  of  the  selection  of  the 
micro-organism  of  measles,  scarlet  fever,  smallpox, 
etc. ;  but  the  reasonableness  of  the  conclusion  seems 


144 

to  be  forced  upon  us  when  we  consider  his  immuni- 
ty from  these  diseases  as  compared  with  the  na- 
tives of  the  interior  of  Africa,  or  the  wilds  of 
America,  whose  races  have  never  been  so  selected, 
and  who,  when  attacked  for  the  first  time  by  these 
diseases,  are  ravaged  almost  to  extinction.  By  ex- 
terminating these  diseases  we  shall  no  doubt  pre- 
serve countless  lives  to  the  community  who  will, 
in  their  turn,  become  race  producers  ;  but  in  af 
much  as  the  individuals  thus  preserved  will,  in 
most  cases,  belong  to  the  feebler  and  less  resisting 
of  the  community,  the  race  will  not  become  more 
robust." 

The  same  author  concludes  in  these  words:  "In 
the  meantime  we  may  view,  and  not  without  in- 
quietude, the  probability  that  our  statistics,  as  far 
as  they  go,  indicate  that  race  deterioration  has 
already  begun  as  a  consequence  of  that  care  for  the 
individual  which  has  characterized  the  efforts  of 
modern  society.  The  biologist,  from  quite  another 
group  of  facts,  has  independently  arrived  at  con- 
clusions which  render  this  view  in  the  highest  de- 
gree probable." 

"Thus,  the  great  English  race,  once  so  hardy, 
so  powerful,"  says  this  modern  writer,  "by  hy- 
giene and  better  physical  conditions,  is  becoming 
weaker  and  weaker." 

This  view  of  the  case  is  growing  largely  in 
England  and,  perhaps,  other  European  countries. 


145 

There  is  already  some  evidence  of  its  truthfulness 
in  statistics.  The  death  rate  for  those  in  middle 
life  is  rather  increasing  than  diminishing.  This 
arises  from  the  fact  that  the  great  number  of  chil- 
dren who  formerly  died  in  infancy  have  lived,  but 
being  of  more  feeble  constitutions,  they  swell  the 
death  rate  later  on.  It  is  felt,  also,  in  many  edu- 
cational institutions  in  the  larger  number  of  youths 
who  cannot  stand  the  strain  and  stress  of  student 
life.  They  are,  high  medical  authority  says,  the 
youth  saved  from  early  death  by  modern  hygienic 
and  medical  care.  Formerly,  natural  selection 
would  have  chosen  them  as  unfit  to  survive,  and 
there  would  have  remained  alive  few  besides  the 
hardy  ones  with  good  constitutions,  capable  of 
great  strain,  with  great  powers  of  endurance. 

It  is  also  shown  in  the  stress  of  modern  com- 
petition, in  which  there  are  multitudes  who  cannot 
stand  this  strain.  It  is  from  these,  in  some  degree, 
that  we  hear  the  cry  for  governmental  aid.  "  We 
must  make  the  conditions  of  life  easier  for  them," 
say  our  social  reformers,  "  or  they  will  become  '  a 
submerged  class.'  " 

CONFLICT  BETWEEN  EVOLUTIONARY  THEORIES  AND 
OUR  HUMANE  SENTIMENTS. — And  now  I  wish  to  con- 
sider another  phase  of  my  subject.  Those  who 
have  followed  closely  what  was  said  concerning 
natural  selection  will  have  seen  that  there  appears 


146 

to  be  a  conflict  between  evolutionary  theories  and 
the  humane  sentiment  of  the  age — a  want  of  corre- 
spondence between  what  is  being  done  by  natural 
law  and  what  man  is  trying  to  do  under  the  inspir- 
ation of  his  loving  heart.  Can  we  reconcile  this 
want  of  correspondence  ?  To  some  extent  no  doubt 
we  can. 

In  the  first  place,  the  growth  of  the  moral  nature 
has  always  been  held  in  high  esteem  by  every  na- 
tion and  every  race.  Our  moral  giants  stand  high- 
er in  the  scale  of  being  than  our  great  generals  or 
statesmen,  even  in  an  age  when  moral  culture  is  at 
a  low  ebb.  We  draw  our  moral  inspiration  from 
Buddha,  Socrates  and  Christ  rather  than  from  Aris- 
totle ;  their  science  may  be,  yes,  is,  faulty,  but 
their  spirit  is  lofty. 

And  the  moral  nature  is  cultivated  in  laboring 
for  the  good  of  others,  in  trying  to  save  for  a  better 
life  the  poor,  the  weak,  the  distressed.  All  that  is 
required  is  that  we  do  this  work  wisely,  not  un- 
wisely, under  the  guidance  of  reason,  not  feelings. 
We  want-  to  prevent  these  calamities  rather  than 
cure  them. 

Another  satisfaction  arises  from  the  fact  that  in 
learning  how  to  perfect  the  lives  of  the  feeble  so 
that  they  may  live  longer,  we  also  learn  how  to 
perfect,  in  a  still  higher  degree,  the  lives  of  the 
strong,  or  those  we  call  the  fit,  so  that  they  also 
will  not  only  live  longer,  but  be  able  to  live  with 


147 

much  greater  satisfaction  the  complex  lives  of  our 
times. 

The  knowledge  which  helps  the  first  may  help 
the  second  even  more  than  the  first,  for  they  have 
better  opportunities  and  can  take  advantage  of  it. 
We  may  also  comfort  ourselves  with  the  fact  that 
a  majority  of  those  with  feeble  constitutions,  whose 
lives  have  been  for  a  time  snatched  from  the  oper- 
ation of  the  laws  of  natural  selection,  will  not, 
after  all,  contribute  very  extensively  to  the  in- 
crease of  the  population.  Great  powers  of  genera- 
tion and  numerous  offspring  rarely  go  with  physi- 
cal weakness.  If  there  are  exceptions  they  are 
explainable.  It  is,  I  think,  pretty  certain  that  a 
great  majority  of  such  leave  few,  often  no  off- 
spring. They  find  their  way  into  places  where 
work  is  light  and  the  pay  small,  and  they  cannot 
afford  to  marry  and  care  for  families,  and  do  not 
do  it. 

The  law  of  natural  selection  will  continue  to 
work  on  them  so  long  as  its  action  is  required, 
with  little  regard  to  the  efforts  of  man  to  abrogate 
it.  Nature  works  continuously  for  ages,  and 
she  works  on  every  part  of  man,  every  organ, 
every  function.  We  may  almost  say  she  is  om- 
nipotent; that  she  watches  for  every  slight  im- 
provement ;  that  she  knows  what  to  do  under  every 
circumstance.  Foiled  in  one  direction,  she  has 
other  means,  infinite  means,  for  gaining  her  ends. 


1-48 


can  no  more  put  a  stop  to  the  operation  of 
natural  law  than  he  can  put  a  stop  to  the  flow  of 
Niagara.  He  may  turn  off  a  trifle  of  its  water  to 
whirl  wheels  and  spindles,  but  the  mighty  river 
flows  on  until  nature  makes  some  changes  in  the 
watersheds,  that  make  its  flow  impossible.  Man, 
on  the  other  hand,  acts  on  his  own  body  in  a  finite 
way.  He  works  mainly  for  immediate,  not  remote, 
ends.  He  changes  his  methods  as  his  needs  change, 
or  his  knowledge  increases.  Today  he  works  with 
limited  knowledge  of  hygiene,  inspired  by  old  ideas 
of  philanthropy.  Tomorrow  he  may  have  a  vastly 
extended  knowledge  of  this  subject  and  an  entirely 
new  social  science  which  will  enable  him  to  do  more 
good  and  less  harm. 

IDEAL  OF  HEALTH.  —  Let  me  now  consider  some 
of  the  things  necessary  to  give  us  a  greater  hope 
for  the  future  of  human  health,  of  ourselves  and 
for  our  children. 

The  first  thing  necessary  is  to  get  a  higher  ideal 
of  bodily  or  physical  perfection  than  we  have  to- 
day. Sir  James  Paget,  in  a  lecture  on  National 
Health,  in  1884,  put  this  in  the  following  words  : 

"We  want,"  says  he,  "more  ambition  for  health. 
I  should  like  to  see  a  personal  ambition  for  health 
as  keen  as  that  for  bravery,  for  beauty,  or  for  suc- 
cess in  our  athletic  games  or  field  sports.  I  ivish 
there  ivas  such  an  ambition  for  the  most  perfect 


149 

national  health  as  there  is  for  national  renown  in 
ivar,  in  art  or  in  commerce."  Sir  James  then  gives 
his  own  ideal.  It  is  for  man  or  woman  to  be  so  full 
of  health  as  to  be  comparatively  indifferent  to  the 
external  conditions  of  life,  and  to  make  a  ready 
self -adjustment  to  all  its  changes.  He  should  not 
be  deemed  thoroughly  healthy  who  is  made  better 
or  worse,  more  fit  or  less  fit,  by  every  change  of 
weather  or  food,  or  who  is  bound  to  observe  exact 
rules  of  living.  It  is  good  to  observe  rules,  and  to 
some  they  are  absolutely  necessary  ;  but  it  is  better 
to  need  none  but  those  of  moderation,  and,  observ- 
ing these,  to  be  willing  to  live  and  work  hard  in 
the  widest  variations  of  food,  air,  climate,  bathing 
and  all  other  sustenances  of  life. 

ADAPTATION  TO  ENVIRONMENT. — This  sounds  very 
much  like  saying  that  to  be  healthy  one  must  be 
adjusted  to  his  environment ;  and  this  is  practi- 
cally what  Herbert  Spencer  long  before  said  in  his 
"  Principles  of  Biology."  Here  are  his  words  : 

'•'As  affording  the  simplest  and  most  conclusive 
proof  that  the  degree  of  life  varies  as  the  degree  of 
correspondence,  it  remains  to  point  out  that  perfect 
correspondence  would  be  perfect  life.  Were  there 
no  changes  in  our  environment  but  such  as  the  or- 
ganism had  adapted  changes  to  meet,  and  were  it 
never  to  fail  in  the  efficiency  with  which  it  met 
them,  there  would  be  eternal  existence  and  uni- 


150 

versal  knowledge.  Death  by  natural  decay  occurs 
because  in  old  age  the  relations  between  assimila- 
tion, oxidation,  and  the  genesis  of  force  going  on 
in  the  body  gradually  fall  out  of  correspondence 
with  the  relations  between  oxygen  and  the  food 
and  absorption  of  heat  by  the  environment.  Death 
from  disease  arises  either  when  the  organism  is 
congenitally  defective  in  its  power  to  balance  ordi- 
nary internal  actions,  or  when  there  has  taken 
place  some  unusual  external  action  to  which  there 
was  no  answering  internal  action.  Death  by  acci- 
dent implies  some  neighboring  mechanical  changes 
of  which  the  causes  are  either  unobserved  from  in- 
attention, or  are  so  intricate  their  results  cannot  be 
foreseen,  and,  consequently,  certain  relations  in  the 
organism. are  not  adjusted  to  the  relations  in  the 
environment.  Manifestly,  if,  to  every  outer  co- 
existence and  sequence  by  which  it  was  ever  in  any 
degree  affected,  the  organism  presented  an  answer- 
ing process  or  act,  the  simultaneous  changes  would 
be  indefinitely  numerous  and  complex,  and  the  suc- 
cessive ones  endless,  the  correspondence  would  be 
the  greatest  conceivable  and  the  life  the  highest 
conceivable,  both  in  degree  and  length." 

KNOWLEDGE. — Another  requirement  to  promote 
human  health  is  a  better  knowledge  of  how  the 
constitution  of  the  body  may  be  strengthened,  and 
more  certitude  as  to  whether  such  improvements  as 


151 

it  may  receive  by  hygienic  training  will  be  trans- 
mitted to  offspring.  That  human  health  may  be 
improved  by  right  training  of  the  body,  a  better 
supply  of  fresh  air,  greater  moderation  in  living, 
there  is  not  a  shadow  of  doubt ;  but  is  the  consti- 
tution itself  thus  strengthened,  or  only  its  original 
vigor  conserved  and  made  effective  ?  I  have  been 
working  on  the  problem  for  some  time  by  a  series 
of  studies  on  the  blood,  and  especially  the  amount 
of  living  matter  in  the  colorless  corpuscles,  and 
have  satisfied  myself,  from  some  observations  on 
individual  cases,  that  the  original  constitution  of 
feeble  persons  can  be  strengthened  in  early  life, 
but  the  extent  of  this  strengthening  seems  some- 
what limited.  Much  original  research  is  still  re- 
quired to  get  at  important  facts  in  this  direction. 
If  some  of  the  study  now  given  to  micro-organisms 
could  be  devoted  to  this  subject  it  would  be  most 
useful.  The  work  might  be  done  in  connection 
with  our  numerous  schools  of  physical  culture,  now 
happily  multiplying,  and  also  in  our  physiological 
laboratories. 

That  any  gain  to  the  vigor  of  the  constitution  can 
be  transmitted  to  the  offspring  is  very  probable. 
While  education  and  training  do  not  seem  to  affect 
the  germ  cells  in  any  marked  degree,  nutrition  does 
affect  them.  Whether  acquired  characters  in  the 
form  of  skill,  music,  language  or  other  like  things 
are  transmitted  or  not  may  still  be  an  open  question. 


152 

Strengthening  the  constitution  seems  to  be  best 
accomplished  by  increasing  the  resources  of  the 
body  beyond  its  outgo,  so  that  there  shall  be  some 
gain;  and  this  brings  up  a  very  important  subject, 
that  of  the  importance  of  living  within  the  bodily 
income. 

In  our  fast  age  we  are  likely  to  use  up  the  physio- 
logical resources  in  excessive  work  or  dissipation, 
and  so  rob  our  children  of  their  just  inheritance. 

EFFECTS  OF  LIVING  AT  HIGH  PRESSURE. — One 
generation  may,  by  living  at  high  pressure  and  un- 
der specially  unfavorable  conditions,  use  up  more 
than  its  share  of  the  living  matter  of  its  bodies  and 
draw  a  bill  on  posterity  which  the  next  generation 
cannot  pay.  Many  of  us  now  have  the  benefit  of 
the  calm,  unexciting  lives  of  our  forefathers.  They 
stored  up  physiological  wealth  for  us  ;  we  are  using 
it.  The  question  is,  Can  we,  working  at  high  pres- 
sure, keep  this  up  during  our  lives  (which,  in  that 
case,  will  be  on  an  average  rather  short),  and  trans- 
mit to  the  coming  generation  a  large  supply  of  liv- 
ing matter  for  their  needs  ? 

How  often  has  it  happened  in  the  history  of  the 
world  that  people  who  for  generations  have  exhib- 
ited no  special  genius,  have  blazed  out  in  bursts  of 
national  greatness  for  a  time,  and  then  almost  died 
out !  We  ought  to  take  care  that  this  does  not 
happen  to  us.  How  often  we  see  a  quiet  country 


153 

family,  whose  members  have  for  generations  led 
calm,  temperate  lives,  suddenly  produce  one  or  two 
great  men  and  then  relapse  into  obscurity.  They 
had  by  their  quiet,  inexpensive  living  stored  up 
energy  for  this  purpose.  On  the  other  hand,  how 
often  have  we  seen  the  reverse — families  whose 
energies  have  been  used  up  in  overwork  or  sensu- 
ality producing  offspring  below  themselves  in  abili- 
ty. The  true  rule,  however,  is  neither  to  waste  the 
bodily  energy  nor  to  keep  too  much  of  it  lying  idle 
and  producing  nothing. 

GIRLS  IN  MANUFACTURING  DISTRICTS. — We  need 
also  a  new  departure  in  our  manufacturing  cen- 
ters. Manufacturing  as  now  conducted  is  a  far  less 
healthy  occupation  than  agriculture  and  horticul- 
ture. The  reason  for  this  is  that  workmen  and 
workwomen  and  even  children  in  most  mills  and 
factories  are  exposed  for  hours  at  a  time  to  an  at- 
mosphere which  is  loaded  with  dust  and  the  debris 
of  cotton,  of  wool,  and  often  to  that  worst  of  all 
dust  which  comes  from  shoddy  and  rags.  They  are 
also,  in  many  cases,  kept  away  from  light,  and  in 
cramped  positions,  and  this,  continued  for  years, 
slowly  deteriorates  the  constitution  ;  and  if,  in  case 
of  a  war,  we  were  obliged  to  enlist  a  large  army, 
we  should  find  a  far  less  number  of  able  bodied 
men  among  the  factory  workers  than  among  the 
farmers.  Let  me  give  you  a  picture,  perhaps  one 


154 

of  the  very  worst  to  be  seen  anywhere,  of  a  visit 
to  a  New  England  paper  mill. 

"  We  left,  with  a  company  of  ladies  and  gentle- 
men, the  light  of  a  mellow  afternoon  to  climb  some 
steep  and  dusty  stairs  under  the  courteous  guid- 
ance of  a  superintendent.  We  had  hoped  to  '  see 
it  all,'  'but  that  was  quite  impossible,'  said  our 
guide,  'since  the  room  where  the  rags  are  sorted 
is  so  dusty  that  the  gowns  of  the  ladies  would  be 
ruined.'  So  we  contented  ourselves  with  less  dan- 
gerous rooms.  But  even  about  the  stairway  the 
dust  cloud  hung  heavily,  obscuring  the  sight  and 
choking  the  breath.  From  the  narrow  landing 
the  room,  into  which  it  was  impossible  to  venture, 
was  in  full  view.  It  was  long  and  large.  From 
end  to  end  were  ranged  huge  boxes,  waist  high. 
Fastened  to  each  were  two  inverted  swords  on 
whose  sharp  blades  the  workers  cut  the  piled-up 
masses  of  rags,  shredding  them  for  the  bleaching 
boiler.  All  the  floor  was  covered  with  rags,  billows 
upon  billows  of  soiled  white  pieces,  in  which  the 
toilers  stood,  their  feet  buried  deep  beneath  the 
dirty,  tattered  material. 

"  Not  a  word  was  spoken.  Even  where  we  stood 
speech  was  difficult,  so  completely  did  the  thick 
dust  fill  eyes,  mouth  and  nostrils,  choking,  blinding 
and  exasperating.  The  effect  of  this  perfect  silence 
was  oppressive.  A  certain  solemnity  hung  over 
the  place.  Through  the  fog  of  dust  the  figures 


155 

loomed  unnaturally  large.  All  the  workers  were 
white  and  hollow-cheeked,  with  great  sunken  eyes, 
emphasized  by  the  circles  underneath.  Each  wo- 
man had  bound  upon  her  head  some  rag,  larger  or 
finer  than  the  rest,  to  protect  her  hair,  and  the 
gray-white  bands  folded  straight  across  the  fore- 
head showed  weirdly  in  the  dim  half-light. 

"  As  they  stood  there  in  long,  silent  rows,  cutting, 
cutting,  CUTTING,  they  looked  like  the  priestesses  of 
some  ancient  and  frightful  ceremonial.  We  were 
glad  to  escape,  to  exchange  the  dust,  the  grime, 
the  wan  faces,  and  the  burning  eyes  for  the  breath 
of  cool  wind,  the  full  glow  of  the  sunlight,  and  the 
face  of  nature  herself,  so  many  of  whose  human 
children  have  no  time  to  know  or  learn  her  ways. 

"It  gave  a  tragic  significance  to  the  memory  of 
those  silent  workers  to  know  that  they  have  but  a 
few  years  to  live." 

The  same  unfortunate  condition  of  things  is  com- 
plained of  in  Manchester,  England,  one  of  the  great- 
est manufacturing  centers  in  the  world.  "The 
heated  air  of  the  mills,  the  dust,  lack  of  light,  the 
employment  of  children,"  says  the  London  Lancet, 
"are  causing  vast  deterioration  and  a  most  disas- 
trous effect  on  the  morals  of  the  people.  Football 
is  popular,  but  all  the  players  are  imported  from 
Scotland.  The  natives  simply  look  on  and  shout.  If 
they  want  men  for  policemen  or  constables,  they  go 
to  Scotland  or  Ireland  for  them.  The  women  and 


156 

girls  are  equally  stunted  and  feeble."  In  the  man- 
ufacturing towns  the  prospect  for  a  strong,  healthy 
race  from  such  material  is  poor  indeed. 

CO-OPERATION  :  AN  EXAMPLE. — It  is  difficult  to  see 
the  remedy  for  this  state  of  things.  Probably  the 
evolution  of  a  higher  standard  of  ethics,  a  higher 
sense  of  justice,  and  a  more  thorough  belief  that 
health  is  a  duty,  may  do  something.  Meantime  it 
is  important  that  the  working  man  should  do  all  he 
can  for  himself;  and  perhaps  I  can  do  no  better 
than  to  give  here  a  picture  of  what  some  of  them 
have  done  under  the  inspiration  of  co-operation,  not 
only  for  their  health  but  for  their  pockets. 

It  is  a  picture  of  a  great  manufacturing  establish- 
ment of  the  Scottish  Co-operative  Wholesale  Soci- 
ety, at  Shieldhall,  near  Glasgow,  on  the  Clyde.  This 
society  is  a  federation  of  all  the  retail  societies  of 
Scotland,  238  in  number,  with  a  membership  of  over 
150,000  persons.  The  society  began  on  a  moderate 
scale  many  years  ago,  but  its  development  has  been 
marvelous.  In  1887  it  started  out  on  a  career  which 
has  since  continued,  owing  to  the  indomitable  en- 
ergy of  one  of  its  members,  himself  a  working  man. 
The  buildings  stand  in  a  very  healthy  locality,  the 
health  of  the  working  force  being  considered  of  the 
first  importance.  They  seem  to  have  learned  that 
sickness  is  loss — loss  of  time,  of  productive  energy— 
and  that  it  is  a  costly  matter.  As  Mr.  Be.echer  once 


157 

said,  "it  is  the  one  burden  that  bends,  almost 
breaks,  the  back  of  society. " 

These  Scotchmen  are  realizing,  just  as  far  as  is 
possible,  the  condition  of  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound 
body.  They  recognize  the  rights  of  the  laborer  to 
health,  and  place  him  in  a  position  while  working, 
so  that  his  body  may  not  deteriorate  any  more  than 
is  natural  for  it  to  do  as  age  advances.  The  living 
machine  must  not  be  harmed  more  than  the  dead 
machinery.  The  land  consists  of  12  acres,  and  cost 
$2,500  an  acre;  nearly  all  of  it  is  covered  with  fine 
buildings,  in  which  19  different  industries  are  car- 
ried on,  many  of  them  on  a  large  scale.  Every  one 
of  these  buildings  is  constructed  after  modern  meth- 
ods, with  every  requirement,  not  only  for  conveni- 
ence but  for  health.  The  workrooms  are  cosy  and 
spacious,  well  ventilated,  warmed  in  cold  weather 
by  steam,  and  lighted  by  electricity.  The  best  san- 
itary arrangements  known  have  been  introduced, 
and  the  excellent  health  of  the  workmen  and  work- 
women, of  whom  there  are  over  1,000  of  each,  tells 
the  story  of  sanitation. 

Two  large  dining-rooms,  one  for  men  and  one  for 
women,  are  provided ;  also  two  large  reading-rooms 
with  all  necessary  papers,  periodicals,  books  and 
means  of  amusement.  Its  only  lack  is  a  gymna- 
sium and  a  field  for  athletic  sports,  but  these  may 
in  time  be  added.  Food  of  the  best  quality  is  sup- 
plied for  all  who  desire  it  at  cost,  A  dish  of  oatmeal 


158 

and  milk  costs  three  cents;  alar.L;v  scone  with  tea  or 

coffee,  the  same;  Scotch  broth  or  soup,  two  cents; 
stewed  meat  and  potatoes,  eight  cents;  roast  beef 
or  mutton,  with  potatoes,  ten  cents;  a  good  and 
sufficient  meal  need  not  cost  over  twelve  cents. 
Standard  wages  are  paid,  and  two  and  one-half 
hours  less  time  demanded  than  in  private  shops. 

Men  work  fifty-three  hours  weekly,  women  forty- 
four.  Most  of  the  latter  work  in  the  shirt  factory, 
but  they  do  not  need  to  sing  Hood's  Song  of  the 
Shirt.  Sweating  is  unknown;  every  worker,  from 
the  youngest  to  the  oldest,  receives  his  or  her  share 
of  the  profits,  which  amount  to  about  $15,000  yearly. 

Here  we  have  an  almost  ideal  manufacturing  es- 
tablishment, and  if  all  were  such  we  should  have 
higher  hopes  for  human  health  in  the  immediate 
future  for  our  workers  in  factories.  It  was  the  out- 
growth, the  effort  of  the  Scotch,  a  highly  intellect- 
ual race,  to  adjust  itself  to  its  environment.  Neces- 
sity and  competition  acting  on  them  forced  them  to 
new  and  better  adjustments.  Such  a  result  could 
hardly  have  been  achieved  by  a  less  hard-headed 
and  practical  people,  a  race  on  which  evolution  has 
for  ages  produced  some  of  its  best  effects. 

HYGIENE. — But  I  fancy  you  ask  me,  Is  there  any 
hope  that  in  the  future  evolution,  and  with  it  ad- 
justment to  environment,  will  carry  man  so  far 
that  an  ideal  state  of  health  will  be  the  lot  of  all? 


159 

This  is  what  hygiene  promises.  Is  it  a  vain  hope? 
If  we  look  at  what  older  sciences  have  done  for 
man  we  find  much  to  encourage  us.  In  astronomy, 
by  the  aid  of  mathematics,  we  can  calculate  with 
certitude  the  date  of  future  eclipses.  In  many 
other  sciences  we  can  make  accurate  predictions 
and  accomplish  results  of  the  greatest  importance. 
Indeed,  science  has  become  almost  our  only  author- 
ity. Imperfect  as  it  yet  is,  we  trust  it,  perhaps, 
too  implicitly.  The  science  of  hygiene  is  the  young- 
est of  all  the  sciences.  Not  that  the  Greeks,  the 
Hebrews,  the  Hindoos  and  Chinese  did  not  have 
some  practical  knowledge  on  the  subject,  but  it 
was  rude  and  empirical.  With'  the  discoveries  of 
micro-organisms  as  the  cause  of  a  series  of  the 
worst  diseases,  we  have  begun  to  place  hygiene 
alongside  mathematics  and  chemistry. 

We  now  know  the  origin  of  many  diseases  which 
formerly  were  enveloped  in  mystery.  Can  we  re- 
move them  ?  That  is  the  next  task.  Hygiene  will 
in  the  future  busy  itself  with  this  great  question. 
It  has,  it  is  believed,  already  made  many  cities 
proof,  or  almost  proof,  against  cholera  and  yellow 
fever.  It  will  try  to  make  them  proof  against 
other  contagious  diseases  also,  and  it  will  without 
doubt  succeed.  But  its  work  will  not  then  have 
been  accomplished.  We  may  avoid  the  causes  of 
disease  and  still  be  puny  creatures.  Our  great  task 
will  be  the  building  up  of  bodies  equal  to  the  needs 


1GO 

of  our  environment.  This  we  have,  in  a  small 
way,  already  begun  to  do — imitating  the  ancient 
Greeks — in  our  schools  of  physical  culture,  where 
the  body  can  be  trained  up  to  its  best,  and  also  in 
our  laboratories  for  psychological  research,  in 
which  the  relation  of  mind  and  body  are  being 
carefully  investigated,  where  every  subject  con- 
nected with  every  function  is  being  studied,  even 
weariness,  anger,  hope,  despair,  drink,  food,  sleep, 
the  weather,  and  their  effects  on  function.  The 
results  of  such  knowledge  will  prove  beyond  a 
doubt  that  the  health  of  the  body,  as  well  as  of 
the  mind,  is  of  the  highest  importance  for  success 
in  life,  for  happiness  and  usefulness,  and  that  we 
can  do  much  to  secure  both. 

My  own  personal  hope  for  the  future  of  human 
health  lies  in  the  evolution  and  spread  of  this  gospel 
of  hygiene. 

Hygiene  interests  itself  in  all  that  relates  to  hu- 
man well-being.  It  may  be  defined  as  the  ethics 
of  the  body — the  science  of  true  living.  It  prom- 
ises health  to  all  who  obey  its  laws.  It  makes  no 
such  promise  to  those  who  disregard  them.  In  the 
future,  no  doubt,  a  higher  average  of  health  will 
be  the  result  of  our  ever-increasing  knowledge  ; 
and  whenever  we  are  able  and  willing  to  apply  this 
knowledge  to  our  own  bodily  and  mental  conduct 
we  shall  be  amply  rewarded.  This  much  we  can 
safely  promise,  but  no  more.  On  the  contrary,  the 


161 

violators  of  hygienic  laws  will,  with  their  offspring, 
suffer  in  the  future  as  in  the  past,  and  that  suffer- 
ing will  be  in  the  form  of  pain,  disease,  degenera- 
tion, premature  death. 

This  may  seem  hard  to  many  who  are  sensitive 
to  the  pains  and  sorrows  of  the  world,  and  some 
have  gone  so  far  as  to  attribute  to  the  author  of 
nature,  the  unknown  cause  of  all  things,  a  charac- 
ter anything  but  good.    But  this  is  a  very  erroneous 
way  of  looking  at  the  subject.     To  discuss  it  fully 
we  should  have  to  consider  the  question  of  the  mys- 
tery of  evil,  which  cannot  be  done  here.     Suffice  it 
to  say,  the  creation,  the  evolution  of  the  race,, is  by 
law.     Causes  produce  their  legitimate  results.     If 
it  were  not  so,  our  sufferings  might  be  far  greater, 
and  no  progress  would  result.     Let  us  be  thankful 
that  nature  is  as  it  is,  and  let  us  do  our  best  to  put 
our  lives  in  harmony  with  it.    By  so  doing,  we  may 
in  the  end  attain  all  that  we  strive  for. 


THE   GERM    PLASM;    ITS   RELATION   TO   OFF- 
SPRING. 


The  germ  plasm  is  a  most  interesting  and  re- 
markable substance.  It  must  be  interesting,  for 
everything  which  relates  to  life  and  reproduction 
is  interesting.  It  must  be  remarkable,  for  out  of 
it,  under  proper  conditions,  remarkable  results  are 
produced.  Although  our  knowledge  of  its  nature 
is  very  imperfect,  yet  let  us  not  on  this  account 
refuse  to  try  to  understand  what  little  is  known. 

In  the  first  place,  the  germ  plasm  of  animals 
which  reproduce  sexually  is  composed  of  two  germ 
plasms — that  of  the  male,  and  that  of  the  female. 
That  of  the  male  is  called  the  spermatozoon  (pro- 
nounced sper'ma-to-zoon).  It  is  sometimes  called 
spermatozoid  ;  the  plural  is  spermatozoa.  It  is 
exceedingly  small,  the  smallest  of  any  cell  in  the 
body,  and  has  the  power  to  move  from  place  to 
place.  These  cells  are  produced  in  enormous  num- 
bers, and.  so  far  as  they  have  been  observed  under 
the  microscope  they  differ  considerably  in  power 
of  movement  and  in  perfection  of  development. 
Considering  their  small  size,  they  must  make  a 


163 

very  long  journey  to  find  the  ovum;  and  if  they 
were  only  few  in  number,  they  would  rarely 
succeed;  but  existing  in  large  numbers,  for  there 
are  millions  of  them  produced  in  each  sexual  act 
of  the  male,  some  of  them  are  pretty  sure  to  do  so, 
and,  probably  in  most  cases,  it  would  be  those 
most  vigorous  and  capable  of  making  the  journey 
most  direct  and  in  the  least  time. 

That  of  the  female  is  called  the  ovum,  or  egg  ; 
plural,  ova.  Only  a  small  number  are  produced, 
when  compared  with  the  number  of  the  male 
spermatozoa,  but  there  are  quite  enough  for  the 
ends  they  are  to  serve.  They  have  not  the  same 
power  of  movement,  though  they  do  move  some- 
what as  the  amaeba  does.  They  are  also  very 
much  larger  than  the  male  cells. 

The  eggs  of  all  mammals  look  alike  as  they  come 
from  the  ovaries,  but  take  on  some  changes  after- 
ward. Haackel  says  :  "  Every  primitive  egg  being 
an  entirely  simple,  somewhat  round,  moving,  na- 
ked cell,  possesses  no  membrane,  and  consists  only 
of  a  nucleus  and  protoplasm.  These  two  parts 
have  long  borne  distinctive  names :  the  protoplasm 
being  called  the  vitellus,  or  yelk,  and  the  nucleus 
the  germinal  vesicle  (vesicula  germinativa)."  The 
same  author  also  says:  "The  human  egg  cannot 
be  distinguished  from  that  of  most  other  mammals, 
either  in  its  immature  or  in  its  more  complete  con- 
dition. Its  form,  its  size,  its  composition,  are  ap- 


164 

proximately  the  same  in  all.  In  its  fully  devel- 
oped condition  it  has  an  average  diameter  of  one- 
tenth  of  a  line — about  the  one  hundred  and  twen- 
tieth part  of  an  inch.  If  the  mammalian  egg  is 
properly  isolated,  and  held  on  a  plate  of  glass 
towards  the  light,  it  appears  to  the  eye  as  a  very 
fine  point.  The  normal  eggs  of  most  of  the  higher 
mammals  are  of  almost  exactly  the  same  size. 
They  have  the  same  spherical  form ;  always  the 
same  characteristic  covering ;  always  the  same 
clear,  round  germinal  vescicle  with  its  dark  germ- 
inal spot.  Even  under  the  highest  power  of  our 
best  microscopes  there  appears  to  be  no  essential 
difference  between  the  eggs  of  a  human  being 
and  that  of  the  ape,  the  dog,  the  cat  or  other  ani- 
mal. This  similarity  is  one  of  appearance  only. 
There  is  a  difference,  and  of  this  I  shall  speak 
later.  It  may  be  asked  if  the  egg  of  a  bird  is  the 
same  as  the  egg  of  a  mammal.  The  mature  bird's 
egg,  as  it  is  laid  in  the  nest,  differs  materially 
from  that  of  any  mammal ;  but  in  its  miniature 
form,  as  found  in  the  hen's  ovary,  it  is  also  the 
same.  The  egg  of  a  bird  after  it  leaves  the  ovary, 
and  as  it  passes  along  the  oviduct,  takes  on  secre- 
tions in  its  passage  which  it  converts  into  yelk, 
and  afterwards  a  shell  is  added  to  give  it  protec- 
tion in  the  external  world,  where  it  must  undergo 
incubation  before  it  can  become  a  bird  ;  but  before 
it  takes  on  its  shell  it  has  been  fertilized,  and  this 


165 

also  causes  other  changes.  Hseckel  says  :  "  After 
the  ripe  egg  of  the  bird  has  left  the  ovary,  and 
has  been  fertilized  in  the  oviduct,  it  surrounds 
itself  with  various  coverings  which  are  secreted 
from  the  inner  surface  of  the  oviduct.  The  thick 
layer  of  transparent  albumen  first  forms  round  the 
yellow  yelk ;  this  is  followed  by  the  formation  of 
the  outer  calcareous  shell,  within  which  is  another 
envelope,  or  skin.  All  these  coverings  and  addi- 
tions which  are  gradually  formed  round  the  egg 
are  of  no  importance  to  the  development  of  the 
embryo ;  they  are  parts  which  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  simple  egg  cell.  Even  in  the  case  of 
other  animals  we  often  find  large  eggs  with  thick 
coverings.  For  example,  the  shark's  ;  but  even  in 
this  case  the  egg  is  originally  exactly  similar  to 
those  of  mammals  when  in  its  primitive  condition 
as  it  comes  from  the  ovary.  In  the  case  of  the 
bird  these  additions  serve  only  as  food  for  the 
growing  embryo,  which,  in  the  case  of  mammals, 
is  furnished  by  a  stream  of  the  mother's  blood, 
making  'stored-up'  nutriment  unnecessary." 

Before,  however,  we  can  have  true  germ  plasm 
the  mother  cell  must  be  fertilized  by  the  male  cell. 
This  is  true  of  all  the  higher  plants  and  animals. 
There  are  some  low  plants  and  animals  in  which 
fertilization  by  the  male  cell  is  not  required.  This 
has  been  called  virginal  generation.  In  no  mam- 
mal is  this  possible. 


166 

How  fertilization  takes  place  and  what  it  signi- 
fies are  both  important  questions  which  have  not 
been  entirely  settled,  and  it  almost  seems  as  if  they 
could  not  be  settled  in  some  of  their  details,  except 
in  the  lower  forms  of  life.  Nature  has  so  pro- 
tected the  process  from  observation  in  the  higher 
animals  that  it  cannot  be  studied  in  detail ;  but  in 
plants  and  the  lowest  animals  it  has  been  observed 
with  some  success,  and  we  may  infer  that  the 
process  is  very  much  the  same  in  the  higher  ani- 
mals. 

Haeckel,  in  his  great  work  on  the  Evolution  of 
Man,  tells  us  that  "The  process  of  fertilization  in 
sexual  generation  depends  essentially  on  the  fact 
that  two  dissimilar  cells  meet  and  blend.  In  for- 
mer times  the  strangest  views  prevailed  with  re- 
gard to  this  act.  Men  have  always  been  disposed 
to  regard  it  as  thoroughly  mystical,  and  the  most 
widely  different  hypotheses  have  been  framed  to 
account  for  it.  It  is  only  within  a  few  years  that 
closer  study  has  shown  that  the  whole  process  of 
fertilization  is  extremely  simple,  and  entirely  with- 
out special  mystery.  Essentially,  it  consists  mere- 
ly in  the  fact  that  the  male  sperm-cell  coalesces 
with  the  female  egg-cell.  Owing  to  its  sinuous 
movements,  the  very  mobile  sperm-cell  finds  its 
way  to  the  female  egg-cell,  penetrates  the  mem- 
brane of  the  latter  by  a  perforating  motion,  and 
coalesces  with  its  cell  material. 


1(57 

"  A  poet  might  find  in  this  circumstance  a  capi- 
tal opportunity  for  painting  in  glowing  colors  the 
wonderful  mystery  of  fertilization  ;  he  might  de- 
scribe the  struggles  of  the  '  seed  animalcules ' 
eagerly  dancing  round  the  egg-cell  shut  up  in  its 
many  coverings,  disputing  the  passage  through  the 
minute  pore-canals  of  the  chorion,  and  then  of  pur- 
pose burying  themselves  in  the  protoplasm  of  the 
yelk  mass,  where,  in  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  they 
competely  efface  themselves  in  the  better  'ego.' 
But  the  critical  naturalist  very  prosaically  con- 
ceives this  poetical  incident,  this  'crown  of  love,' 
as  the  mere  coalescence  of  two  cells  !  The  result 
of  this  is,  that  in  the  first  place  the  egg-cell  is  ren- 
dered capable  of  further  evolution,  and,  secondly, 
that  the  hereditary  qualities  of  both  parents  can 
be  transmitted  to  the  child." 

By  coalescence  is  understood,  growing  together, 
not  mingling  as  water  and  milk  might  when 
mixed.  More  recent  observations  indicate  that 
during  coalescence  both  the  male  and  female  cells 
throw  off  some  portions  of  their  substance.  It  is 
also  considered  that  the  important  part  of  each  cell 
is  its  nucleus.  In  it  all  hereditary  characteristics 
are  stored  up.  If  the  nucleus  be  absent  in  either 
cell  these  cells  cannot  reproduce.  In  unicellular, 
or  one-celled,  organisms,  it  has  been  found  in  mul- 
tiplication by  division,  a  part  of  the  nucleus  must 
go  with  each  half,  otherwise  the  half  without  a 


168 

part  of  it  does  not  grow.  In  experiments  in  labora- 
tories, artificial  division  of  simple  organisms  may 
be  made,  and  each  fragment  will  become  a  perfect 
creature  if  only  a  very  small  piece  of  the  nucleus 
goes  with  the  separated  portion  ;  but  if  a  part  is 
cut  off  without  any  of  the  nucleus,  then,  while  it 
may  live  on  for  a  short  time,  it  can  not  grow  or 
propagate. 

Possibly  we  have  here  an  explanation  of  some 
hereditary  phenomena  in  human  beings.  If  there 
is  an  unequal  division,  and  more  of  the  male  than 
of  the  female  nucleus,  the  child  might,  as  a  result, 
inherit  more  of  the  father's  than  of  the  mother's 
characteristics,  or  the  reverse. 

What  has  been  so  far  said  about  the  germ  plasm 
has  been  to  enable  the  reader  to  possess  a  degree 
of  intelligence  on  the  nature  of  fertilization,  so  far 
as  it  is  known ;  but  from  a  practical  standpoint 
the  most  important  knowledge  for  those  prospective 
parents  who  wish  to  practice  intelligent  stirpicul- 
ture  is  to  understand  that  the  health  of  the  germ 
plasm  or  fertilized  ovum  depends  on  the  health  of 
the  parents.  By  health,  I  mean  the  possession  of 
a  good  constitution,  to  which  will  be  added  a 
strong  hold  on  life,  power  to  do  and  to  endure, 
and  quickly  to  recover  from  weariness.  Disease 
will  be  easily  warded  off  in  such  persons,  so  that 
there  will  be  generally  good  health.  Such  a  con- 
dition of  body  is  usually  inherited.  It  depends  on 


169 

the  possession  of  a  large  supply  in  the  body  of  liv- 
ing matter — firm  muscles,  a  good  heart,  lungs  and 
digestive  organs.     Those  who  are  feeble  cannot  en- 
dure much;  whose  heart,  lungs  and  digestive  or- 
gans are  weak;  whose  hold  on  life  is  slight,  can 
rarely  endow  their  offspring  with  these  high  quali- 
ties.    Their  children  may  live  if  no  great  strain 
comes  upon  them;  but  if  they  must  take  an  active 
part  in  the  struggle  and  competition  going  on  in 
the  world  they  cannot  endure  it.     Mr.  Spencer  puts 
the  case  very  aptly  in  his  work  on  Ethics  where  he 
says:    "It  results  that  where  maternal   vigor  is 
great,  and  the  surplus  vitality  consequently  large, 
a  long  series  of  children  may  be  borne  before  any 
deterioration    in    their    quality  becomes    marked; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,   a  mother  with  but  a 
small  surplus  may  soon  cease  altogether  to  repro- 
duce.     Further,  it  results  that  variations  in  the 
state  of  health  of  parents  which  involves  variations 
in  the  surplus  vitality  have  their  effects  on  the 
constitutions  of  offspring  to  the  extent  that  off- 
spring borne  during    greatly  deranged    maternal 
health  are  decidedly  feebler.     And  then,  lastly  and 
chiefly,  it  results  that  after  the  constitutional  vigor 
has  culminated,  and  there  has    commenced    that 
gradual  decline  which  in  some  twenty  years  or  so 
brings  absolute  infertility,  there  goes  on  a  grad- 
ual decrease  in  that  surplus  vitality  on  which  the 
production  of  offspring  depends,  and  a  consequent 


170 

deterioration  in  the  quality  of  such  offspring. 
This  which  is  a  priori  conclusion  is  verified  a  pos- 
teriori. 

"Mr.  J.  Mathews  Duncan,  in  his  work  on  Fecun- 
dity, Fertility,  Sterility  and  allied  topics,  has  given 
results  of  statistics  which  show  that  mothers  of 
twenty-five  bear  the  finest  infants,  and  that  from 
mothers  whose  ages  at  marriage  range  from  twen- 
ty to  twenty-five  years  there  come  infants  which 
have  a  lower  rate  of  mortality  than  those  resulting 
from  marriages  consummated  when  the  mothers' 
ages  are  smaller  or  greater.  The  apparent  slight  in- 
congruity between  these  two  statements  being  due 
to  the  fact  that  whereas  marriages  commenced  be- 
fore twenty  and  twenty-five  cover  the  whole  of 
the  period  of  highest  vigor,  marriages  commenced 
at  five  and  twenty  cover  a  period  which  lacks  the 
years  during  which  vigor  is  rising  to  its  climax 
and  includes  only  the  years  of  decline  from  the  cli- 
max." 

This  quotation  from  Mr.  Spencer  needs  a  quali- 
fying remark.  Mr.  Galton,  in  his  work  on  Hered- 
itary Genius,  found  that  the  average  age  of  moth- 
ers of  men  of  the  greatest  ability  was  about  thirty, 
and  of  their  fathers  thirty-five.  In  such  cases,  the 
physical  and  intellectual  strength  must  have  been 
above  the  average,  and,  consequently,  it  continued 
to  a  more  advanced  age.  Besides,  those  of  great 
ability  mature  later. 


171 

It  may  also  be  added  that  Duncan's  statistics, 
quoted  by  Spencer,  are  average  statistics  gathered 
from  tables  of  mortality,  and  include  every  class 
of  persons.  Now,  average  statistics  do  not  apply  to 
individual  cases,  and  they  would  not  apply  to  those 
highly  endowed  physically  and  intellectually. 

Further,  those  who  are  well  endowed  at  birth 
and  whose  lives  are  in  accordance  with  hygienic 
law,  that  is,  those  who  do  not  squander  their 
physiological  resources  by  sensuality,  by  intem- 
perance, or  by  excesses  of  any  sort  retain  their 
health  to  a  greater  age  than  those  whose  lives  are 
the  reverse.  Such  are  of  a  youthful  physiological 
age,  which  is  not  altogether  determined  by  the 
actual  number  of  years  they  have  lived,  but  by 
very  high  physiological  conditions. 

From  all  this  we  conclude  that  a  very  important 
rule  in  the  production  of  offspring,  if  we  would 
have  those  offspring  superior,  is  to  maintain  a  high 
degree  of  health — a  condition  in  which  there  is  a 
surplus  of  physiological  capital  to  produce  children 
with  endowments  equal  to,  if  not  superior  to,  their 
parents. 

Another  subject  requires  treatment  here.  It  is 
the  effect  of  alcohol  on  offspring.  We  are  yet 
lacking  in  statistics  giving  the  facts  we  need  to 
know  on  this  subject ;  but  the  general  observation 
of  competent  persons  who  have  had  good  oppor- 
tunities to  study  it  may  teach  us  something.  Alco- 


172 

hoi,  in  its  circulation  in  the  blood,  penetrates  every 
part ;  not  even  the  germ  plasm  escapes.  Demme 
studied  ten  families  of  drinkers  and  ten  families 
of  temperate  persons.  The  direct  posterity  of  the 
ten  families  of  drinkers  included  fifty-seven  chil- 
dren. Of  these,  twenty-five  died  in  the  first  weeks 
and  months  of  their  lives  ;  six  were  idiots  ;  in  five 
a  striking  backwardness  of  their  longitudinal 
growth  was  observed  ;  five  were  affected  with  epi- 
lepsy, and  five  with  inborn  diseases.  Thus,  of  the 
fifty-seven  children  of  drinkers  only  ten,  or  17.5 
per  cent.,  had  normal  constitutions  and  healthful 
growth.  The  ten  sober  families  had  sixty-one  chil- 
dren, five  only  dying  in  the  first  weeks  ;  four  were 
affected  with  curable  diseases  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem ;  two  only  had  inborn  defects.  The  remaining 
fifty,  81.9  per  cent.,  were  normal  in  their  consti- 
tutions and  development. 

In  this  statement  we  have  a  graphic  object  lesson 
of  the  evil  effects  of  alcohol  on  the  germ  plasm. 
Natural  selection  had  far  more  to  do  in  removing 
those  unfit  to  survive  in  the  intemperate  than  in 
the  temperate  families. 

A  knowledge  of  the  evil  effects  of  alcohol  on  the 
unborn  child  was  known  to  the  ancients.  The 
mother  of  Sampson  was  warned  s<  not  to  drink  any 
wine  or  strong  drink  nor  to  eat  any  unclean  thing  " 
because  she  was  to  conceive  and  bear  a  son  who  was 
to  deliver  Israel  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Philistines. 


173 

Manoah  was  so  interested  in  what  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  had  said  to  his  wife  that  he  sought  an  inter- 
view with  him  for  further  confirmation,  and  asked  : 
"How  shall  we  order  the  child,  and  how  shall  we 
do  unto  him  ?  "  evidently  meaning,  "How  shall  we 
train  and  educate  him  ?  "  and  the  same  advice  was 
given  as  before.  Whatever  view  the  reader  may 
hold  as  to  the  inspiration  or  non-inspiration  of  the 
Bible,  certainly  this  advice  was  good.  Other  ex- 
amples similar  to  it  are  to  be  found,  not  only  in 
the  same  book,  but  in  numerous  historical  works, 
and  also  abundant  evidence  in  our  own  time  of 
the  evil  effects  of  alcoholic  drinks  on  unborn  chil- 
dren giving  them  a  tendency  to  insanity,  idiocy  and 
other  nervous  diseases.  A  whole  book  might  be 
written  on  this  branch  of  our  subject. 

To  what  extent  food  affects  the  germ  plasm  we 
remain  somewhat  in  ignorance.  We  know  that  it 
is  from  it  that  the  body  is  nourished,  and  from  it 
also  the  stored  up  or  surplus  matter  in  our  systems 
is  obtained.  The  larger  the  surplus  the  more  high- 
ly will  the  offspring  be  endowed  with  energy  is 
a  fact  clearly  set  forth  by  Mr.  Spencer.  A  surplus 
of  fatty  food  stored  up  in  the  body,  however,  can- 
not be  of  much  service  and  may  prove  injurious. 
A  deficiency  of  nitrogenous  food  would  also,  it 
seems  to  me,  be  an  evil.  The  germ  plasm,  or  its 
most  important  part,  is  a  highly  nitrogenous  sub- 
stance, like  all  protoplasm,  or  living  matter.  The 


174 

highest  form  of  germ  plasm,  that  with  a  most  com- 
plex molecular  structure,  would  hardly  be  formed 
if  there  was  a  deficiency  of  nitrogenous  matter  in 
the  blood. 

Air  is  also  food  the  same  as  bread  is.  The  ac- 
tivities, the  chemical  changes  in  the  body,  are 
mainly,  though  not  entirely,  between  the  oxygen 
of  the  air  and  the  carbon  and  hydrogen  of  our 
food.  The  body  is  quite  as  much  injured  by  a  de- 
ficiency of  air  inhaled  into  the  lungs  by  exercise 
as  by  a  deficiency  of  food,  though  the  injury  may 
be  of  a  different  nature.  Physicians  and  others 
have  long  ago  observed  that  the  offspring  of  par- 
ents living  much  in  the  open  air  and  sunlight  are 
healthier  and  stronger  than  those  of  parents  living 
in  confined  spaces,  where  air  and  light  are  de- 
ficient. Air  which  is  impure,  which  is  loaded  with 
poisonous  matter,  if  inhaled  for  a  long  time  by  the 
mother,  lowers  the  standard  of  her  health.  In 
malarious  regions,  the  vigor  of  the  offspring  is  less, 
and  the  number  who  die  in  infancy  greater,  than 
in  regions  where  the  air  and  water  are  pure. 
Many  years  ago  I  remember  reading  in  one  of  the 
journals  devoted  to  sanitary  science  published  in 
London,  an  account  of  a  rural  town  where  both  air 
and  water  were  of  extraordinary  purity,  and  in 
this  town  a  very  large  percentage  of  the  children 
born  lived  to  grow  to  maturity.  There  is  also  an 
isolated  region  in  France,  bordering  on  the  sea, 


175 

where  both  air,  water  and  climate  are  unusually 
salubrious,  and  though  intermarriage  has  been 
practiced  for  a  long  time  among  the  several  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  the  people  are  remarkably  well 
formed  and  healthy.  Similar  facts  have  been  ob- 
served in  other  places.  They  indicate  to  us  that  a 
healthful  climate,  with  good  air  and  water,  are  im- 
portant factors  in  all  true  stirpiculture. 

While  all  diseases  which  exhaust  the  physio- 
logical resources  of  the  system  are  detrimental  to 
the  offspring,  there  are  certain  ones  which  are 
peculiarly  so.  Specific  diseases  or  those  resulting 
from  a  sensual  life  are  the  first  to  be  mentioned. 
If  the  bodies  of  either  father  or  mother  become 
saturated  with  the  poison,  which  is  probably  a 
germ,  then  the  child  born  of  such  parents  will 
certainly  be  infected  and  either  die  at  birth  or  live 
only  a  short  and  feeble  life.  It  is  one  of  the  pen- 
alties of  an  impure  life — a  very  severe  one,  no 
doubt,  but  perhaps  not  too  severe,  that  the  off- 
spring of  the  sensualist  must  suffer  the  penalties 
for  its  parent's  physiological  sins.  Medical  men 
have  long  been  trying  to  discover  a  remedy  which 
will  make  it  safe  for  a  man  infected  with  specific 
disease  to  marry  and  become  a  father,  but  so  far 
they  have  not  had  much  success.  It  is  doubtful  if 
they  ever  will. 

Epilepsy  is    another  disease   which   is   so  often 
transmitted  to  children  that  any  one  of  either  sex 


176 

suffering  from  it  had  better  abstain  from  parent- 
age. If  one  parent  is  remarkably  healthy,  the 
children  may  escape  the  severest  form  of  penalty ; 
but  even  then  they  may  suffer  from  nervousness 
and  other  diseases,  and  rarely  enjoy  robust  health. 

The  question  whether  persons  who  have  a  con- 
sumptive tendency  should  become  parents  or  not 
has  frequently  been  discussed  by  sanitarians,  but 
never  settled.  Such  persons  are  frequently  in- 
tellectual, and  often  of  an  unsually  cheerful  and 
hopeful  disposition.  They  are,  in  most  cases,  quite 
prolific.  In  the  female  they  generally  make  ex- 
cellent wives  and  mothers ;  in  the  case  of  the  male, 
they  are  not  uncommonly  good  providers  for  their 
families,  and  also  good  fathers.  Except  in  the 
worst  cases,  does  the  welfare  of  the  race  demand 
that  they  shall  not  marry  and  become  parents. 
Probably  not.  But  we  must  advise  them  to  take 
the  very  best  care  of  their  imperfect  bodies ;  to 
develop  their  chests  by  wise  but  not  excessive 
physical  training ;  to  husband  their  physiological 
resources  carefully ;  not  to  marry  young,  nor  rear 
too  many  children.  Excessive  childbearing  is  a 
prolific  cause  in  women  of  consumption,  and  exces- 
sive sexual  indulgence  is  a  frequent  cause  of  it 
in  both  sexes. 

These  remarks  should  not  be  construed  to  mean 
that  those  who  are  already  in  the  early  stages  of 
this  disease,  or  whose  families  on  both  sides  have 


177 

been  deeply  affected  by  it,  may  become  parents. 
They  should  not.  But  in  the  present  state  of 
society,  we  cannot  hold  men  and  women  up  to  an 
ideal  standard.  Some  slight  risks  may  be  taken, 
but  not  too  great  ones.  As  the  race  progresses  in 
knowledge,  however,  we  may  raise  our  standards, 
and  finally  make  them  so  high  that  no  one  with 
a  tendency  to  any  serious  disease  which  is  likely 
to  affect  the  offspring  unfavorably  shall  have  any 
right  to  contribute  to  the  world's  population. 

I  have  mentioned  only  a  few  of  the  many  dis- 
eases which  affect  the  germ  plasm  unfavorably. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  extend  the  list. 

One  other  subject  deserves  consideration,  when 
I  will  bring  this  chapter  to  a  close.  Every  child 
born  into  the  world  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  an  ex- 
periment. That  is  to  say,  the  parents  cannot  pre- 
dict its  sex,  nor  what  its  chief  characteristics  will 
be.  These  depend  on  what  potentialities  are  stored 
up  in  the  germ  plasm.  If  this  be  formed  by  parents 
in  good  health,  with  a  surplus  of  vital  force,  and 
a  long  line  of  ancestors  with  normal  lives,  we  may 
believe  that  if  the  environment  be  favorable,  the 
child  will  develop  so  as  to  show  the  same  charac- 
teristics, perhaps  in  an  even  higher  degree.  What- 
ever variations  there  are  will  not  be  much  below  or 
above  the  average  line  of  its  ancestors.  The  con- 
genital characters  will  tend  to  be  transmitted. 
They  are  in  the  germ  plasm,  even  in  great  detail. 


178 


Whether  the  acquired  ones  are  transmitted  may 
still  be  uncertain;  but  whether  they  are  or  not, 
normal  right  living  will  be  sure  to  have  good 
effects.  Obey  the  laws  of  life  and  far  better  re- 
sults will  follow  than  if  they  are  disobeyed. 


FEWER    AND    BETTER    CHILDREN. 


In  the  present  age  suggestions  on  this  subject 
may  seem  superfluous.  The  more  highly  educated 
and  wealthy  classes  have  already  sufficiently  re- 
duced the  number  of  children  which  they  bring 
into  the  world.  But  are  these  offspring  any  better 
than  they  would  have  been  had  their  parents  given 
birth  to  a  larger  number  ? 

Mr.  Darwin  did  not  think  much  could  be  done 
to  improve  the  race  by  parents  limiting  the  num- 
ber of  their  offspring.  He  would  trust  to  natural 
selection  to  weed  out  the  unfit,  and  to  sexual  selec- 
tion as  an  aid.  He  thus  describes  the  probable 
manner  of  action  of  sexual  selection  among  prime- 
val men  :  "  The  strongest  and  most  vigorous  men— 
those  who  could  best  defend  and  hunt  for  their 
families  ;  those  who  were  provided  with  the  best 
weapons  and  possessed  the  most  property,  such  as 
a  large  number  of  dogs  or  other  animals — would 
succeed  in  rearing  a  greater  average  number  of 
offspring  than  the  weaker  and  poorer  members  of 
the  same  tribes.  Such  men  would  doubtless  gener- 
ally be  able  to  select  the  more  attractive  women. 


180 


.  .  .  If,  then,  this  be  admitted,  it  would  be  an 
unexplainable  circumstance  if  the  selection  of  the 
more  attractive  women  by  the  more  powerful  men 
of  the  tribes,  who  would  rear  on  the  average  a 
greater  number  of  children,  did  not,  after  the  lapse 
of  generations,  modify  the  character  of  the  tribes. " 

The  way  in  which  the  tribe  would  be  modified 
would  be  by  its  producing  better  children.  Of 
course  among  primitive  men  the  richer  and  more 
powerful  had  several  wives,  but  it  is  not  likely 
that  the  number  of  children  by  each  one  was  large. 

Natural  selection  is,  however,  a  painful  process, 
necessary,  no  doubt,  where  ignorance  prevails ; 
but  if  the  number  of  children  of  each  pair  could 
be  limited  and  of  a  superior  character,  so  far  as 
vigor  and  adaptation  to  environment  are  concerned, 
would  there  not  be  less  need  for  natural  selec- 
tion with  all  its  evils?  It  seems  to  us  that  this 
would  be  so. 

We  have  already  quoted  Grant  Allen  as  favoring 
abstainence  from  parenthood  on  the  part  of  the  un- 
fit and  the  duty  on  the  part  of  the  fit  to  become 
parents,  and,  theoretically,  Mr.  Allen  is  right ;  but 
except  as  both  of  these  classes  are  swayed  by  duty 
we  would  make  little  progress  in  this  way.  A 
majority  of  mankind  think  they  are  the  fit.  Why 
should  they  crucify  their  desires  for  the  benefit  of 
the  race?  As  mankind  becomes  more  moral  Mr. 
Allen's  views  may  have  a  larger  influence  on 


181 


thought  than  now  ;  but  before  that  time  little  can 
be  expected  from.  them. 

Mr.    Spencer  says:   "We  have  fallen  upon  evil 
times,  in  which  it  has  come  to  be  an  accepted  doc- 
trine that  part  of  the  responsibilities  [of  parent- 
hood] are  to  be  discharged,  not  by  parents,  but  by 
the  public — a  part  which  is  gradually  becoming  a 
larger   part,  and  threatens  to  become  the  whole. 
Agitators  and  legislators  have  united  in  spreading 
a  theory  which,  logically  followed  out,  ends  in  the 
monstrous  conclusion  that  it  is  for  parents  to  beget 
children  and  for  society  to  take  care  of  them.     The 
political  ethics  now  in  fashion  makes  the  unhesi- 
tating assumption  that  while  each  man,   as  par- 
ent, is  not  responsible  for  the  mental  culture  of 
his  offspring  he  is,  as  a  citizen  along  with  other 
citizens,  responsible  for  the  mental  culture  of  all 
other  men's  offspring  !    And  this  absurd  doctrine 
has  now  become  so  well  established  that  people 
raise  their  eyes  in  astonishment  if  you  deny.     But 
this  ignoring  of  the  truth,  that  only  by  due  dis- 
charge of  parental  responsibilities  has  all  life  on 
the  earth  arisen,  and  that  only  through  the  better 
discharge  of  them  have  there  gradually  been  made 
possible  better  types  of  life,    is,  in  the  long  run, 
fatal.      Breach  of  natural  law  will,  in  this  case, 
as  in  all  cases,  be  followed  in  due  time  by  nature's 
revenge — a  revenge  which  will  be  terrible  in  pro- 
portion as  the  breach  has  been  great.     A  system 


182 


under  which  parental  duties  are  performed  whole- 
sale by  those  who  are  not  parents,  under  the  plea 
that  many  parents  cannot  or  will  not  perform  their 
duties — a  system  which  fosters  the  inferior  chil- 
dren of  inferior  parents  at  the  cost  of  superior 
parents  and  consequent  injury  of  superior  chil- 
dren— a  system  which  thus  helps  incapables  to 
multiply  and  hinders  the  multiplication  of  capables 
or  diminishes  their  capability  must  bring  decay 
and  ultimate  extinction,  A  society  which  persists 
in  such  a  system  must — other  things  equal — go  to 
the  wall  in  the  competition  with  a  society  which 
does  not  commit  this  folly  of  nourishing  its  worst 
at  the  expense  of  its  best." 

We  have  evidence  among  primitive  people  that 
they  understand  the  necessity  of  limiting  offspring, 
and  practice  it  in  a  perfectly  healthful  way.  The 
natives  of  Uganda,  a  region  in  Central  Africa,  offers 
an  illustration:  "The  women  rarely  have  more 
than  two  or  three  children;  the  practice  is  that 
when  a  woman  has  borne  a  child  she  is  to  live 
apart  from  her  husband  for  two  years,  at  which 
age  children  are  weaned." 

Seaman,  speaking  of  the  Fijians,  says:  "After 
childbirth  husband  and  wife  keep  apart  three  and 
even  four  years,  so  that  no  other  baby  may  inter- 
fere with  the  time  considered  necessary  for  suckl- 
ing children." 

Some  fifty  years  ago  there  lived  in  New  York  a 


183 


young  couple,  strong,  healthy,  ambitious  to  be 
rich,  and  both  saving  and  industrious  enough  to 
become  so  under  ordinary  conditions.  The  hus- 
band was  in  a  business  which  required  constant 
attention;  and  in  order  to  promote  it  and  save  the 
expense  of  help  which  he  thought  he  could  not 
afford,  he  labored  nights,  often  up  to  the  hours  of 
twelve  and  sometimes  one  o'clock,  and  then  arose 
early  and  went  at  it  again.  His  wife  sympathized 
with  him  in  all  his  undertakings,  helped  him  in 
every  way  possible,  even  to  the  sharing  of  his  mid- 
night toils.  In  no  way  did  either  of  them  spare 
themselves.  They  knew  something  of  the  evils  of 
poverty,  and  were  determined  that  it  should  not 
always  be  their  lot.  Fortune  favored  them,  and 
their  bank  account  grew  larger  and  larger  until 
they  could  count  the  value  of  their  possessions  as 
amounting  to  several  million  dollars.  They  lived 
in  a  fine  country  seat,  and  could  gratify  every 
wish,  so  far  as  food,  clothing,  books  and  travel 
were  concerned.  During  their  early  married  life, 
when  the  strain  of  work  was  the  greatest,  two 
children  were  born  unto  them,  both  boys,  and  they 
are  alive  today;  but  are  they  a  comfort  to  their 
parents,  and  a  help  in  their  declining  years?  In- 
stead of  this  they  are  both  deformed  and  cripples, 
unable  to  help  themselves  or  do  any  labor.  Their 
family  physician  has  told  me  that  the  overwork 
and  privation  of  the  parents  at  the  time  of  their 


184 

birth  and  before,  was  undoubtedly  the  cause  of  the 
children's  inferiority.  A  younger  son  born  after 
the  wife  had  ceased  to  toil  like  a  slave,  gives  some 
promise  of  being  a  man  of  character. 

We  have  here  a  typical  case  of  strong,  healthy 
parents,  with  a  limited  number  of  offspring,  yet 
they  were  not  superior.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
would  be  easy  to  collect  a  large  number  of  in- 
stances where  the  children  in  large  families  have 
had  superior  endowments.  Take  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin as  an  example.  He  was  the  fifteenth  child  of 
his  father,  Josiah  Franklin,  and  the  eighth  of  the 
ten  children  of  his  mother. 

It  seems  that  superiority  is  a  result  of  great 
vigor  and  perfection  of  body  and  mind  and  of 
abundant  reproductive  power.  Where  this  is  ab- 
sent the  children  will  hardly  be  superior.  Yet  in 
both  cases  a  certain  degree  of  limitation  ought  to 
be  advantageous. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  say  what  I  have  indirectly 
said  already.  Let  the  strong,  the  capable  and  the 
good  rear  as  many  children  as  they  can  without 
overburdening  themselves  in  any  way,  and  let  the 
weak,  the  imperfect  and  the  bad  rear  few  or  none, 
but  devote  their  lives  to  perfecting  their  own 
characters.  In  this  way  the  future  race  will  be 
modified  for  good  and  not  for  evil. 


A   THEORETICAL    BABY. 


Reported  by  request  of  Dr.  Holbrook. 


It  was  our  first  baby.  I  was  making  a  living  as 
a  doctor  by  writing  articles  on  the  general  care  of 
the  health;  and  my  wife  before  her  marriage  had 
been  a  kindergartner,  a  trainer  of  kindergartners, 
and  a  lecturer  to  mothers  on  the  scientific  and  ex- 
pert methods  of  rearing  children  aright.  We  be- 
lieved in  the  theories  we  had  taught,  and  our  baby 
got  nothing  else  from  the  start.  According  to  the 
first  applied  theory,  we  made  our  temporary  home 
before  the  boy  began  to  be,  in  the  Kocky  Mountains 
of  Colorado;  and  were  a  large  part  of  the  time 
either  in  our  garden  or  on  horseback,  in  this  perfect 
outdoor  climate.  My  wife  was  entirely  in  love  with 
me,  and  I  made  each  day  count  for  nothing  more 
certainly  than  to  deserve  and  return  that  sentiment 
of  hers  We  lived  simply  but  freely,  and  had  next 
to  no  anxieties.  My  wife  had  practiced  general 
gymnastics  for  years;  but  for  months  prior  to  the 
birth  of  her  boy,  she  every  day  went  through  with 
a  series  of  special  maternal  gymnastics,  by  which 
the  muscles  that  aid  in  parturition  can  be  made 


18G 

strong  and  entirely  to  be  ivlird  upon.  We  were  re- 
garded for  this  outlay  of  time  in  a  delivery  that 
was  rapid  and  easy,  without  more  than  an  ounce  of 
haemorrhage,  and  everything  so  perfectly  con- 
trolled that — except  for  the  inconvenience  of  it — the 
presence  and  aid  of  the  physician  (myself)  might 
have  been  dispensed  with.  Recovery  was  rapid 
also.  My  wife  made  no  haste  to  get  up,  keeping 
quiet  most  of  the  time  for  two  weeks,  to  ensure 
good  milk.  But  she  did  a  family  washing  without 
effort  after  three  weeks,  and  was  on  horseback 
again  by  the  sixth  week.  The  baby  was  not 
severed  from  his  mother  till  ten  minutes  after  birth 
(ensuring  a  better  blood  supply).  Then  he  got  no 
bath,  no  food,  no  dressing  process ;  but  was  simply 
swathed  in  cotton  batting  and  laid  aside  for  six 
hours  in  a  padded  box-bed,  surrounded  by  bottles  of 
hot  water,  and  covered  with  plenty  of  soft  blankets, 
to  sleep  and  get  used  to  his  new  environment.  On 
the  second  day  we  began  rubbing  him  daily  from 
head  to  foot  with  vaseline.  His  first  bath,  with  a 
flannel  cloth  dipped  in  warm  milk  diluted  with  soft 
water  and  without  soap,  came  when  he  was  a  week 
old,  and  was  followed  by  the  thorough  rub  with 
vaseline.  This  bath  he  has  had  nearly  every  day  up 
to  date.  He  has  often  cried,  or  crowed  and  begged 
for  this  bath;  but  never  cried  during  its  perform- 
ance, except  when  his  clothes  were  being  replaced. 
On  the  contrary,  he  enjoys  every  moment  of  it. 


187 

Feeding  began  with  a  meal  every  hour  of  the 
twenty-four,  for  the  first  week.  Then  night  feed- 
ing was  reduced  to  two  meals,  and  he  was  fed 
every  two  hours,  from  four  or  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning  till  nine  at  night,  till  two  months  old. 
About  then  he  began  sleeping  right  through  the 
nights;  and  until  three  months  old  was  fed  every 
three  hours  of  the  day  time;  then  for  a  month  he 
went  four  hours  between  his  meals.  At  his  fourth 
month  began  the  present  regime  of  four  meals  per 
diem.  Now  and  then  he  has  cried  in  the  night 
from  thirst,  and  a  few  spoonsful  of  cold  water  have 
sufficed  to  send  him  off  to  sleep  again.  All  in  all,  I 
think  I  could  count  on  my  fingers  the  times  that  he 
has  wakened  us  out  of  hours,  and  not  once  has  any- 
one walked  the  floor  with  him.  In  fact,  no  di- 
versions of  this  sort  have  ever  been  practiced  on 
him.  He  has  never  been  rocked  to  sleep;  whenever 
cross  or  fretful  in  the  day,  we  have  known  that 
sleep  was  all  he  needed,  and  into  his  little  bed  he 
has  been  promptly  plumped,  and  covered  with  a 
loosely  knit  afghan,  tented  on  a  light  framework, 
which  we  call  "the  extinguisher."  Here  shut 
away  and  entirely  unnoticed  he  soon  learned  to 
give  himself  up  to  his  own  reflections,  and  then 
presently  to  sleep.  Thus  we  have  kept  down  the 
first  great  nuisance  of  ordinary  infancy,  namely, 
egoism  and  a  habit  of  howling  for  attention  when 
no  attention  is  really  needed.  But  social  relations, 


188 

and  those  of  the  gayest,  he  has  constantly  with 
both  his  parents.  We  take  up  and  make  into  play 
with  him  each  idea  of  his  own.  We  have  shown 
him  some  finger-plays.  In  the  main  we  leave  him 
to  originate  his  own  amusements. 

From  the  keeping  of  stomach  and  bowels  abso- 
lutely healthy,  by  a  regular  and  reasonable  exercise 
of  their  all-important  functions,  not  only  has  the 
boy  been  free  from  irritability,  and  spontaneously 
happy  and  self -amused,  sometimes  quiet,  and  some- 
times jolly  to  overflowing.  But  the  second  great 
nuisance  of  those  ordinarily  attending  baby-raising, 
namely,  sour  stomach  followed  by  colic,  was  elimi- 
nated. A  secondary  result  of  this  entire  regularity 
of  functioning  at  the  upper  end  of  the  alimentary 
canal  was  that  a  like  regularity  set  in  at  the  other 
end.  That  is,  at  the  thirteenth  week  he  began  to 
have  but  one  daily  passage  of  faecal  matter,  and 
that  soon  after  breakfast.  Of  the  approach  of  this 
act  he  notified  his  mother  without  fail,  and  there- 
after we  had  no  soiled  diapers.  Movements  were 
received  on  pieces  of  old  cloth,  and  cloth  and  all 
tossed  into  a  pan  of  ashes,  or  the  fire,  when  we  had 
one.  When,  at  six  months,  we  put  him  onto  cow's 
milk,  mixed  with  thin  graham  porridge,  to  supply 
the  extra  nourishment  demanded  by  rapid  growth, 
he  went  up  to  two  movements  per  diem — morning 
and  evening.  Thus,  the  third  great  nuisance  of 
of  diaper  washing  was  eliminated,  in  its  more  disa- 


189 

greeable  feature.  Eructation  of  curds,  rashes, 
colic,  diarrhoea — these  common  ailments  of  ordi- 
nary babyhood,  we  have  never  had  a  sight  of.  We 
believe  it  due  solely  to  strict  adherence  to  the  four- 
meals-a-day  plan.  These  consist  of  an  early  break- 
fast, a  later  breakfast,  a  dinner  about  one  o'clock 
and  a  supper  between  six  and  seven.  The  bath 
comes  at  any  convenient  time.  On  pleasant  days, 
even  in  winter,  he  is  outdoors,  well  wrapped,  in  a 
chair,  for  hours,  and  often  has  a  long  nap  there. 
He  was  provided,  by  my  own  needle  and  penknife, 
with  an  ample  fur  sleeping  sack,  into  which  he  is 
securely  buttoned  every  evening  and  laid  in  his 
box-bed,  on  a  trunk.  He  never  sleeps  with  his 
parents.  According  to  the  coolness  or  coldness  of 
the  nights,  additional  covering,  in  the  shape  of  soft 
blankets  and  shawls,  is  laid  in  on  the  box,  their 
weight  supported  by  the  edges  of  the  box.  He  can- 
not uncover  himself,  but  he  can  kick  freely,  and 
use  his  arms.  We  dressed  him,  from  the  first,  in 
the  ';  Gertrude"  system  of  baby  clothes,  introduced 
by  Dr.  Grosvenor,  of  Chicago — all  woolen  princess 
garments,  with  shirring  strings  at  the  lower  hems, 
by  which  they  are  made  closed  bags,  ending  just 
below  the  feet;  warm,  but  allowing  of  kicking  ad 
libitum.  At  five  months — it  being  winter  time — he 
went  into  short  clothes,  including  solid  suits  of 
warm  flannel  underwear,  shirts,  drawers  and  long 
snug-fitting  stockings.  He  has  never  had  a  cold. 


190 

His  muscles,  from  the  first  (due  to  his  mother's 
gymnastics),  were  firm  and  active,  like  those  of  an 
adult.  At  the  fourth  week  he  surprised  us  by 
suspending  his  entire  weight  from  his  hands  and 
arms  one  morning.  Legs,  neck,  back  and  hands 
particularly  have  developed  steadily  in  power  and 
quickness.  There  was  never  any  fat  deposited — 
that  avant  courier  of  so  much  infant  mortality — yet 
he  is,  and  has  been  all  along,  a  rosy,  plump,  dim- 
pled baby,  or  boy,  rather,  for  babyhood  very  early 
lost  its  hold  on  him.  Too  often  children  seem 
finally  to  emerge  from  the  miseries  and  ailments  of 
a  tedious  infancy  and  to  take  on,  at  last,  individu- 
ality and  distinct  character  at  the  second  or  third 
year.  This  child,  per  contra,  having  never  had  a 
sensation  of  illness,  or  of  pain,  save  honest  hunger, 
has  seemed  to  be  a  happy  little  boy  almost  from 
the  first,  alert  or  thoughtful,  shouting  or  cooing, 
laughing  and  crowing,  especially  after  his  meals 
and  movements,  studying  the  world  of  things  about 
him  by  the  hour,  keenly  appreciative  of  colors  and 
of  music,  and  preferring  some  sorts  to  others,  his 
face  crossed  by  vivid  changes  of  expression,  wonder, 
merriment,  surprise,  reverie — all  as  perfect  at  six 
months  as  ordinarily  seen  at  three  years.  He  has 
good  color  from  head  to  foot,  is  pale  when  hungry, 
but  the  moment  a  bit  of  food  is  down  expands  to  his 
most  genial  flow  of  spirits.  Immediately  after  his 
day-time  naps  his  cheeks  are  regularly  flushed  and 


191 

rosy.  His  spirits  become  more  pronounced  toward 
each  evening,  reaching  their  high-point  of  talking, 
laughing,  crowing  and  squealing  at  just  about  bed- 
time. He  keeps  it  up  for  some  time  after  being 
tucked  away  for  the  night,  till  sleep  masters  him; 
and  begins  where  he  left  off  early  next  morning. 
All  this  is  good  physiology.  So  happy  day  succeeds 
happy  day,  and  we  trust  and  hope  that  many  good 
tendencies  are  getting  a  fair  start  in  a  harmonious 
and  spontaneous  beginning  of  this  great  work  of 
growing  up  that  we  are  fostering  but  not  forcing. 

AT  ONE  YEAR  OLD. — Everything  continues  as 
begun.  Teething  at  times  causes  slight  transient 
fretfulness,  and  more  cold  water  is  drunk.  The 
bowels  remain  absolutely  regular.  The  all-night 
sleep  (never  "put  to  sleep,")  and  two  day-time 
naps  are  unchanged,  in  all  thirteen  or  fourteen 
hours  of  sleep  per  diem.  On  warm  days  he  needs 
and  gets  plenty  of  cool  water  to  drink,  often  two- 
thirds  of  a  pint  at  a  time.  Talking,  standing  and 
creeping  he  has  attained  by  his  own  unaided  in- 
itiative (this  on  principle).  As  for  amusements,  he 
invents  his  own  always,  except  when  engaged  in 
social  exchange  with  his  father  and  mother,  and  in 
these,  too,  we  are  careful  that  he  makes  at  least 
half  the  advances. 

On  particular  occasions  he  comes  in  need  of 
mothering — and  gets  it.  On  all  others  he  simply 


192 

lives  with  two  big  but  highly  sympathetic  play- 
fellows ;  and  he  has  developed  separate  lines  of 
play  and  talk  for  each.  Often  he  chooses  to  alter- 
nate as  between  two  poles  of  attraction,  turning 
his  face  to  his  mother's  for  her  sympathy  between 
shouts  to  his  father,  or  vice  versa.  From  week  to 
week  we  notice  that  the  older  plays  are  mostly 
dropped  one  by  one,  and  fresh  ones  invented.  All, 
however,  are  real  and  vivid  to  him. 

In  early  prospect  we  have  but  two  more  points  to 
compass.  Perfect  health  in  all  respects  he  has  in- 
tact. Self-control  and  self-sufficiency,  both  in 
amusing  himself  and  in  enduring  lesser  ills,  such 
as  bumps  and  mild  degrees  of  hunger,  he  is  getting 
as  fast  as  growth  permits.  But  obedience  and  re- 
sponsibility will  soon  be  needed  in  his  repertoire. 
Negative  obedience  his  mother  is  obtaining  already 
in  response  to  "No,  no,"  and  shakes  of  the  head. 
Positive  obedience  will  be  the  far  more  vital  thing 
to  secure — just  as  soon  as  he  can  help  in  little 
ways.  Here  we  hope  to  make  him  responsible  as 
far  as  can  be  for  the  welfare,  safety  and  amuse- 
ment of  younger  playfellows,  whether  brother  or 
sister  it  is  now  too  soon  to  say. 

AT  EIGHTEEN  MONTHS. — A  cold  douche  has,  for 
three  months  past,  ended  his  morning  bath,  regu- 
larly given  by  his  father  after  his  sister  arrived, 
and  his  weight  became  considerable.  This  douche, 
poured  slowly  from  a  dipper  until  redness  set  in, 


193 

has  added  markedly  to  his  spirits,  muscular  activ- 
ity and  digestive  capacity.  It  causes  screaming  at 
the  moment,  but  an  instant  later,  as  three  Turkish 
towels  are  wrapped  closely  about  him,  his  exuber- 
ance is  delightful  to  see.  Coincidently  he  has  taken 
up  a  selected  diet  of  solid  food,  including  chocolate 
and  cooked  fruits,  and  will  have  but  one  nap, 
though  often  that  is  a  long  one. 

As  the  child  is  working  out  of  babyhood,  every 
day  counting  (as  no  day  of  half  illness  in  childhood 
can  count),  and  well  into  boyhood,  the  single  prin- 
ciple already  outlined,  of  leaving  the  little  individu- 
ality to  establish  its  own  activities  and  socialities, 
seems  sufficient,  as  the  illustrations  appended,  I 
believe,  prove.  Doubtless  a  child  that  is  not,  day 
after  day,  enjoying,  and  often  thrilled  by  health 
and  life,  as  this  little  boy  is,  a  child  not  brought  up 
in  an  unbroken  camaraderie  with  both  parents, 
such  as  he  has  had,  and  particularly  a  child  not  hav- 
ing the  send-off  of  trust  and  amiable  impulse  which 
he  received  before  his  birth,  could  not  be  left  to 
blossom  in  such  wild-flower  style.  Ugly,  sulky  or 
"streaky"  conduct,  jumping  perversely  out  in  place 
of  good  cheer,  we  have  never  had  to  deal  with.  In 
fact,  we  have  never  been  able  to  detect  the  slightest 
resentment  immediately  after  punishing  him  for 
taking  forbidden  articles,  or  for  raising  an  outcry 
over  being  denied  sundry  things  he  wanted.  His 
crying  when  punished  is  that  of  pure  grief,  and  he 


194 

is  ready  at  once  to  nestle  down  under  the  hand  that 
had  spatted  disapproval,  to  be  comforted,  resuming 
good  spirits  two  or  three  minutes  later  on.     In  the 
main,  simply    "No,  no!"   from  either  parent,  has 
sufficed  to  stop  him  in  the  beginnings  of  mischief, 
sometimes  resulting  in  cheerful  desisting,  and  some- 
times in  a  little  of  what  we  call  the  "  grieved  cry." 
But  this,  too,  if  it  becomes  loud  or  insistent,  can  be 
hushed  by  another   "No,  no,"  and  enable  him  to 
regain  control  of  himself.     With  this  regained  self- 
control  has  always  come  gratefulness  for  aid  in  the 
matter,  as  evinced  by  extra  sweetness  and  bright- 
ness immediately  after,   and  eager  resumption  of 
some  one  or  other  of  his  plays  or   calls   with  one 
or  both  of  us.     This  may  be  what  is  known  as  disci- 
pline.    It  always  brings  a  smile  to  our  faces,  how- 
ever. 

Without  a  break  of  more  than  a  day  or  two  at  a 
time,  we  have  been  able  to  be  equally  near  him  all 
the  while,  and  divide  up  about  equally  the  matters 
of  bathing,  feeding,  dressing  and  undressing  him. 
The  conventional  estimate  of  those  standing  near- 
est to  a  child  of, 
1— Mother, 
2 — Nurse, 
3 — Teacher, 

4 — Servants  and  playmates, 
5 — Older  brother  or  sister, 
6 — Father — the  man  behind  the  newspaper, 


195 

certainly  does  not  apply  here.     When  I  am  absent 
for  from  three  to  six  hours  his  uneasiness  sets  in, 
and  grows  stronger  and  stronger, ending  in  repeated 
expeditions  to  a  short  distance  along  the  road,  where 
he  stands  and  calls   "Vager,"   "Vager,"  (Father, 
Father,)  at  first  hopefully,  then  protestingly,  and 
sometimes  at  last  with  indignation  or  tears.     When 
I  return — and  he  listens  and  catches  the  first  distant 
sound  of  hoofs,  or  wheels,  or  whinny  of  the  left-at- 
home  colts,  or  voice,   or  opening  gate — an  eager, 
beaming  face  welcomes  me  from  gate  or  doorway,  or 
even  several  rods  down  the  beaten  snow  on  the  road. 
Once  back,  things  are  all  right  in  his  little  domain 
again,  and  he  goes  on,  without  special  attention  to 
me,  in  his  series  of  occupations  and  plays. 

I  say  "occupations."  They  are  nothing  else  to 
him ;  serious  matters  that  he  goes  about  accom- 
plishing. He  is  at  his  best  when  he  can  help  his 
mother  at  her  work — blowing  the  fire,  bringing  her 
kindling,  handing  her  clothespins  one  by  one  as  she 
needs  them,  shutting  or  opening  doors  on  request, 
picking  up  articles  from  the  floor.  But  there  are 
many  hours  continuously  when  he  is  left  to  his  own 
devices,  which  are  numerous,  though  many  of  them 
he  goes  through  daily,  such  as  feeding  the  cat, 
visiting  his  little  sister,  emptying  and  refilling  the 
wall-pockets,  collecting  his  blocks,  and  fishing  arti- 
cles off  the  table  with  a  long  stick.  He  has  learned, 
untaught,  to  get  a  cloth  to  open  the  stove  door  with 


196 

and  save  burned  fingers;   to  get  and  bring  clean 
diapers  to  his  mother  when  he  wishes  a  change;  to 
stoop  and  lap  water  out  of  the  pail;  to  stand  by  his 
bed  and  point  up  at  it  when  wishing  his  mid-day 
nap;  to  retreat  to  a  dark  corner  and  drape  his  hand- 
kerchief over  his  head  for  a  brief  period  towards 
the  close  of  a  day,  in  lieu  of  the  discarded  second 
nap;  to  scoop  bread  or  biscuit  out  of  a  pail  hung 
above  his  reach,   with    an   iron    spoon;    to    lasso 
peaches  toward  him  with  a  cord,  said  peaches  being 
in  pan  on  the  floor  just  beyond  where  he  could 
reach  from  a  little  gate  separating  the  kitchen  and 
sitting-room.    None  of  these  things  has  been  taught 
him.    Nothing  whatever  has  been  taught  him,  and 
especially  no  words  and  no  "tricks."    He  invents 
or  does  without,  in  all  non-essential  matters,   in 
regular  Spartan  style.      So,  in  pursuit  of  his  own 
undertakings,  he  rarely  asks  for  what  he  would 
have;  just  tries  and  tries,  day  after  day,  until  he 
succeeds  or  is  beaten.     But  as  he  is  at  some  new 
act  or  plan  much  of  the  time  when  left  to  himself, 
he  has,  we  are  satisfied,  independently  attained  to 
more  of  childish  accomplishment  than  the  most  in- 
cessant   teaching    processes    could  have  effected. 
In  doing  what  he  does  do,  for  instance,  in  certain 
climbing  feats,  he  has  slowly  worked  up  to,  he  is 
both  cautious  and    sure;    he  rarely  tumbles  and 
never  loses  his  confidence.     Thus  for  the  past  two 
days  he  has  achieved  the  feat  of  climbing  up  and 


197 

standing  erect  on  a  little  box  fourteen  inches  high, 
where  he  calls  and  shouts  and  roars  to  us  his 
ecstacy  over  the  matter  for  ten  minutes  at  a  time. 
Today  only  he  has  found  out  how  to  get  down 
alone.  Contrast  is  taken  here  with  the  frequent 
falls  and  wailings  of  children  who  are  first  per- 
suaded into  attempts  of  various  sorts,  but  have  not 
worked  out  a  real  personal  mastery  of  given  acts 
for  themselves. 

He  has  quite  a  vocabulary  now  of  his  own  inven- 
tion. The  meanings  of  these  terms  we  have  learned 
mostly,  and  use  them  to  him.  Of  our  vocabulary 
he  understands  the  meanings  of  a  large  number  of 
the  words  for  things  in  which  he  is  interested, 
forty  or  fifty  nouns,  and  a  dozen  verbs,  perhaps. 
He  sings  to  his  mother,  and  now  and  then  to  me, 
rude  imitations  of  the  songs  he  has  heard  us  sing, 
and  his  mother  he  roughly  accompanies.  His  in- 
flections of  voice  have  developed  to  the  point  of 
entirely  expressing  many  of  his  emotions;  while 
his  expressions  of  face  are  as  much  beyond  these 
as  the  inflections  are  beyond  his  stock  of  English- 
about  seven  words,  and  those  requiring  some  exi- 
gency to  bring  out. 

All  this  pleases  us,  because  we  truly  want  him  to 
become  rich  in  his  own  life,  to  subsist  and  grow  in 
his  own  home-made  lines  of  feeling  and  thought; 
and  not  to  learn  words,  parrot-like,  before  he  has 
the  thought  formed,  and  searching,  even  struggling, 


198 

for  a  means  by  which  to  convey  itself.  It  is  dearth 
of  internal  life,  emotion  and  unaided  thought  that 
is  in  need  of  replenishment  in  the  average  young 
person,  not  lack  of  English  dictionary  terms  for 
things  that  can  be  talked  about,  but  are  evidently 
not  intrinsic  and  personal. 

C.  W.  LYMAN,  M.  D. 
New  Castle,  Col. 


NOTES. 


War  and  Parentage. 

In  the  interests  of  unborn  children  we  should,  so  far  as 
possible,  remove  from  the  world  those  causes  which,  act- 
ing on  the  mother,   either  directly  or  indirectly,  may  in- 
jure them  by  lowering  the  standard  of  their  health,  or  by 
altering  and  debasing  their  moral  and  intellectual  natures. 
One  of  the  most  potent  of  the  causes  for  harm  is  war. 
War  has  generally  been  regarded  as  one  of  the  ennobling 
professions.     If  we  look  upon  it  in  its  most  favorable 
light,  all  that  we  can  say  in  its  favor  is  that  among  primi- 
tive and  barbarous  races  it  has  perhaps  resulted  in  the 
preservation  and  spread  of  the  most  capable  ones,  and 
that  it  has  at  the  same  time  welded  them  together  into 
larger  groups,  and  finally  into  nations,   and  habituated 
them  to  those  restraints  which  are  necessary  to  social  ex- 
istence ;  but  we  no  longer  require  it  for  this  purpose,  and 
the  industrial  pursuits  and  the  evolution  of  civilization  are 
so  disturbed  by  them  that  they  should  cease,  and  especially 
should  they  cease  in  the  interest  of   our  children,  both 
born  and  unborn 

How  can  war  injure  children  ?     We  have  already  shown 
in  the  chapter  on  Prenatal  Culture  that  when  the  mother 


200 


is  under  the  influence  of  any  powerful  mental  emotion, 
such  as  fear,  depression,  anger  and  similar  passions  dur- 
ing the  months  in  which  the  child  is  being  developed  in 
her  womb,  there  is  very  great  danger  of  permanent  injury 
to  it.  Only  the  strongest  mothers,  those  with  the  most 
robust  health,  or  who  have  the  most  stable  nerves,  those 
who  are  rarely  thrown  off  their  balance,  are  capable  of 
resisting  the  intense  excitments  to  which  they  are  subject 
during  some  of  the  phases  of  war. 

As  I  mentioned  in  my  early  work  on  Marriage  and 
Parentage,  Esquirol,  a  French  historian,  gives  details  of  a 
considerable  number  of  cases  of  children  born  soon  after 
some  of  the  sieges  of  the  French  Revolution,  which  were 
weakly,  nervous  and  idiotic,  on  account  of  the  terrible 
strain  to  which  their  mothers  had  been  subjected.  In 
every  war  where  a  city  is  besieged,  even  if  its  women  and 
children  are  sent  away,  they  cannot  be  altogether  free 
from  anxieties  and  mental  strains  of  a  most  unwholesome 
nature,  and  if  some  of  them  are  soon  to  become  mothers, 
the  offspring  not  yet  born  must  suffer.  No  one  can  esti- 
mate the  vast  number  of  children  injured  under  such  con- 
ditions in  the  ages  past.  They  have  been  only  incidentally 
referred  to  in  history.  The  fame  and  glory  of  conquerors 
must  not  be  dimmed  by  the  relation  of  such  occurrencies. 

Joseph  A.  Allen,  in  The  Christian  Register,  gives  the 
results  of  some  of  his  observations  which  bear  on  this 
subject.  He  says : 

"  So  much  is  being  said  about  war  and  its  effects,  that  I 
am  prompted  to  send  you  the  result  of  my  observations. 


201 


"  I  was  in  charge  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Reform 
School  for  several  years,  when  every  inmate  (there  were 
between  three  and  four  hundred)  was  born  before  the 
Civil  War — during  the  time  of  the  great  an ti- slavery  agita- 
tion, which  did  so  much  to  educate  the  moral  sense  of  the 
people. 

"I  was  again  in  charge  of  the  same  institution  when 
every  inmate  was  born  during,  or  soon  after  the  war, 
when  the  mothers  icere  reading,  talking  and  dreaming 
of  battles,  and  of  husbands,  fathers  or  brothers  who  had 
gone  to  the  war. 

"  I  found  as  great  a  difference  in  the  character  of 
those  inmates  born  before  and  after  the  Civil  War  as 
exists  between  a  civilized  and  a  savage  nation. 

"  Those  under  my  care  the  second  time  were  much 
more  difficult  to  control,  more  quarrelsome  and  defiant, 
less  willing  to  work  or  study r,  The  crimes  for  which 
they  were  sentenced  were  as  different  as  their  characters. 

"  It  was  not  uncommon  for  them  to  be  sentenced  for 
breaking  and  entering  with  deadly  weapons. 

"  This  difference  was  not  confined  to  inmates  of  reform 
schools,  but  it  was  manifest  throughout  all  classes. 

'•After  the  war  crimes  increased  rapidly.  In  Boston 
garroting  was  common,  and  was  only  checked  by  Judge 
Russell  sentencing  all  such  subjects  to  the  full  extent  of 
the  law. 

"Before  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  the  State  Prison  at 
Charlestown,  under  Mr.  Gideon  Haynes,  was,  according 
to  Dr.  D.  C.  Wines,  D.  D.,  the  model  prison  of  the  United 


202 


States.  Since  that  time  it  has  been  almost  impossible  to 
maintain  proper  discipline,  owing,  no  doubt,  to  the  more 
desperate  character  of  the  inmates. 

"  Let  us  try  to  trace  these  effects  back  to  their  causes, 
and  prove,  if  possible,  that  whatsoever  a  man  (or  nation) 
soweth,  that  shall  it  also  reap." 

But  there  are  other  ways  in  which  war  militates  against 
the  noblest  motherhood.  Camp  life  is  a  school  for  vice 
and  prostitution.  In  Camp  Chickamauga,  which  is  a  sam- 
ple of  them  all,  during  the  war  with  Spain  on  account  of 
Cuba,  the  amount  and  baseness  of  the  prostitution  by  the 
soldiers,  with  both  black  and  white  women,  exceeded 
description.  In  a  single  day  forty-one  cases  of  specific 
disease  applied  to  the  physicians  at  the  hospitals  for 
treatment.  These  things  were  not  reported  in  the  daily 
papers ;  they  were  too  vile.  The  place  was  a  hot-bed  of 
vice,  rather  than  a  school  of  virtue  and  patriotism.  In  all 
European  armies  it  is  the  same.  In  times  of  peace,  sol- 
diers from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  in  rank,  insist  that 
facility  shall  be  allowed  them  for  the  gratification  of  their 
passional  natures.  The  officers,  not  being  permitted  to 
marry  unless  they  or  their  wives  have  a  certain  income, 
keep  their  mistresses,  and  not  a  female  servant  near  a 
camp  is  safe.  The  immoral  influences  here  generated 
spread  throughout  societ}*,  lower  the  standard  of  morals 
among  both  men  and  women  in  private  life,  and  jeopard- 
ize the  interests  of  children  born  or  unborn,  morally  and 
intellectually,  as  well  as  physically, 

But  there  is  another  view.     "  Great  standing  armies," 


203 


says  the  Czar  of  Russia,  in  his  note  to  the  Powers,  ';  are 
transforming  the  armed  power  of  our  day  into  a  crush- 
ing burden  which  the  people  have  more  and  more  diffi- 
culty in  bearing" 

That  is  to  say,  the  tax  imposed  upon  the  individuals  of 
any  nation  to  support  its  army  pauperizes  or  keeps  on  the 
verge  of  poverty  a  large  portion  of  the  race.  It  is  war, 
far  more  than  any  other  cause,  which  has  created  the  bur- 
den of  taxation.  In  some  European  countries  almost 
every  man  carries  a  soldier  or  sailor  on  his  back,  that  is, 
he  must  labor  not  only  to  support  himself  and  family,  but 
a  soldier  or  sailor  who  devotes  his  life  to  a  murderons  pro- 
fession. Is  this  not  a  grevious  burden  which  cripples  or 
paralyzes  his  life  and  reacts  on  his  offspring  ? 

Now,  the  poverty  caused  by  this  burden  is  a  serious 
obstacle  to  the  production  and  training  of  the  young,  and 
especially  is  this  the  case  in  the  more  populous  countries — 
France,  Spain  and  Italy  are  examples.  These  lands  were 
once  the  most  powerful  in  Europe ;  they  are  so  no  longer. 
They  gloried  in  war,  and  spent  immense  sums  of  money 
upon  their  armies  and  burdened  the  people  with  taxes 
which  should  have  been  reserved  for  the  use  of  fathers 
and  mothers  in  educating  and  providing  for  the  needs  of 
their  offspring.  War  has  crushed  out  the  best  lif  e  of  these 
countries,  and  other  nations  which  follow  in  the  same  path 
will  in  the  end  come  to  a  similar  fate.  They  may  hold 
out  a  long  time,  but  not  forever.  "  The  mills  of  Gods 
grind  slowly,  but  they  grind  exceeding  small." 

It  is  because  war  is  an  enemy  to  the  highest  mother- 


204 


hood  tbat  women  should  array  themselves  against  it.  It 
is  one  of  the  greatest  foes  to  the  development  and  welfare 
of  the  children  they  love  so  well.  Women  should  insist 
that  all  governments  should  settle  their  differences  by 
peaceful  rather  than  by  warlike  means.  The  industrial 
age  may  have  its  difficulties,  but  they  are  not  insurmount- 
able. In  it  the  fathers  and  mothers  may  have  the  time 
and  the  means  to  study  and  learn  how  to  improve  the  race 
through  a  wiser  parentage.  I  believe  that  thoughtful 
women,  when  they  come  to  see  the  evils  of  war  in  their 
true  light,  as  they  have  seen  the  evils  of  prostitution  and 
intemperance,  will  be  its  greatest  foes. 


Cases  of  Prenatal  Influences. 

Alfred  Russell  Wallace  gives  in  Nature  a  few  cases  of 
prenatal  influences  sent  him  by  his  correspondents.  The 
first  experience  is  from  a  mother  residing  in  Australia. 
She  writes : 

"  I  can  trace  in  the  character  of  my  first  child,  a  girl 
now  twenty-two  years  of  age,  a  special  aptitude  for  sew- 
ing, economical  contriving  and  cutting  out,  which  came  to 
me  as  a  new  experience  when  living  in  the  country  among 
new  surroundings,  and  strict  economy  being  necessary,  I 
began  to  try  to  sew  for  the  coming  baby  and  myself.  I 
also  trace  her  great  love  of  history  to  my  study  of  Froude 
during  that  period.  Her  other  tastes  for  art  and  litera- 
ture are  distinctly  hereditary. 


205 


"  In  the  case  of  my  second  child,  also  a  daughter,  I 
having  interested  myself  prior  to  her  birth  in  literary  pur- 
suits, the  result  has  been  a  much  acuter  form  of  intelli- 
gence, which  at  six  years  old  enabled  her  to  read  and  en- 
joy the  ballads  which  Tennyson  was  then  giving  to  the 
world,  and  which  at  the  age  of  barely  twenty  years  allowed 
her  to  take  her  degree  as  B.  A.  of  the  Sydney  University. 

"Before  the  third  child,  a  boy,  was  born,  the  current  of 
our  lives  had  changed  a  little.  Visits  to  my  own  family 
and  a  change  of  residence  to  a  distant  colony,  which  in- 
volved a  long  journey,  as  well  as  the  work  incidental  to 
such  changes,  together  with  the  care  of  my  two  older 
children,  absorbed  all  my  time  and  thoughts,  and  left  little 
or  no  leisure  for  studious  pursuits.  My  occupations  were 
more  mechanical  than  at  any  other  time  previous.  This 
boy  does  not  inherit  the  studious  tastes  of  his  sisters  at 
all.  He  is  intelligent  and  possesses  most  of  the  qualifica- 
tions which  will  probably  conduce  to  success  in  life,  but  he 
prefers  any  kind  of  out-door  work  or  handicraft  to  study, 
Had  I  been  as  alive  then  as  I  am  now  to  the  importance  of 
these  theories,  I  should  have  endeavored  to  guard  against 
this  possibility ;  as  it  is,  I  always  feel  that  it  is,  perhaps, 
my  fault  that  one  of  the  greatest  pleasures  of  life  has  been 
debarred  to  him. 

"  But  I  must  not  weary  you  by  so  many  personal  details, 
and  I  trust  you  will  not  suspect  me  of  vanity  in  thus 
bringing  my  own  children  under  your  notice.  Suffice  it  to 
say  that  in  every  instance  I  can,  and  do,  constantly  trace 
what  others  might  term  coincidences,  but  which  appear  to 


206 


nit'  iiothing  but  cause  and  effect  iu  their  several  develop- 
ments." 

Mr.  Wallace  then  gives  extracts  from  other  correspond- 
ents as  follows : 

"  Mrs.  B says :    "  I  can  trace,  nay,  have  traced  (in 

secret  amusement  often),  something  in  every  child  of  mine. 
Before  the  birth  of  my  eldest  girl  I  took  to  ornithology, 
for  work  and  amusement,  and  did  a  great  deal  in  taxider- 
my, too.     At  the  age  of  three  years  I  found  this  youngster 
taking  such  insects  and  little  animals  as  she  could  find,  and 
puzzling  me  with  hard  questions  as  to  what  was  inside  of 
them.     Later  on  she  used  to  be  seen  with  a  small  knife, 
working  and  dissecting  cleverly  and  with  much  care  and 
skill  at  their  insides*    One  day  she  brought  me  the  tiniest 
heart  of  the  tiniest  lizard  you  can  imagine,  so  small  that  I 
had  to  examine  it  through  a  glass,  though  she  saw  it  without 
any  artificial  aid.     By  some  means  she  got  a  young  walla- 
by, and  made  an  apron  with  a  pocket  inside  which  she  used 
to  call  her  '  pouch.'      This  study  of  natural  history  is  still 
of  interest  to  her,  though  she  lacks  time  and  opportunities. 
Still,  she  always  does  a  little  dissecting   if   she   gets   a 
chance." 

ANOTHER  CASE. — "  I  never  noticed  anything  about  P 

for  some  years.  Three  months  before  he  was  born  a 
friend,  whom  I  will  call  Smith,  was  badly  hurt,  and  was 
brought  to  my  house  to  be  nursed.  I  turned  out  the 
nursery  and  he  lay  there  for  three  months,  I  nursed  him 
until  I  could  do  so  no  longer,  and  then  took  lodgings 
in  town  for  my  confinement.  Now  after  all  these  years 


207 


I  have  discovered  liow  this  surgical  nursing  has  left  its 
mark.  The  boy  is  in  his  element  when  he  can  be  of  use 
in  cases  of  accident,  etc.  He  said  to  me  quite  lately: 
i  How  I  wish  you  had  made  a  surgeon  of  me  !  '  Then  all 
at  once  it  flashed  in  upon  me,  but,  alas !  it  was  too  late  to 
remedy  the  mistake. 

"  Before  the  birth  of  the  third  child  I  passed  ten  of  the 
happiest  months  of  my  life.  We  had  a  nice  house,  one 
side  of  which  was  covered  with  cloth  of  gold  roses  and 
bougianvillea,  a  garden  with  plenty  of  flowers,  and  a  vine- 
yard. Here  we  lived  an  idyllic  life,  and  did  nothing  but 
fish,  catch  butterflies  and  paint  them.  At  least  my  hus- 
band painted  them  after  I  had  caught  them  and  mixed  his 

colors.  At  the  end  of  this  time  L was  born.  This 

child  excels  in  artistic  talent  of  many  kinds ;  nothing 
comes  amiss  to  her,  and  she  draws  remarkably  well.  She 
is  of  a  bright  gay  disposition,  finding  much  happiness  in 
life,  even  though  not  always  placed  in  the  most  fortunate 
surroundings. 

"  Before  the  birth  of  my  next  child,  N ,  a  daughter, 

I  had  a  bad  time.  My  husband  fell  ill  of  fever,  and  I  had 
to  nurse  him  without  help  or  assistance  of  any  kind.  "We 
had  also  losses  by  floods.  I  don't  know  how  I  got  through 

that  year,  but  I  had  no  time  for  reading,  N is  the 

most  prudent,  economical  girl  I  know.  She  is  a  splendid 
housekeeper  and  a  good  cook,  and  will  work  till  she  drops ; 
has  no  taste  for  reading,  but  seems  to  gain  knowledge  by 
suction."  Such  cases  are  so  numerous  that  they  should 
be  collected  and  scientifically  studied. 


208 


Luxury  an<1   "Parentage. 

In  all  ages  of  luxury,  fine  ladies  try  to  avoid  maternity. 
They  detest  it  in  theory  only,  for  women  are  controlled  by 
the  instinct  of  the  race.  In  the  circles  of  which  we  are  speafc- 
ing,  the  instincts  of  the  race  for  children  have  vanished. 
Life  has  lost  its  serious  meaning.  Responsibility  of  any 
kind  is  a  mere  nuisance,  and  the  idea  of  bringing  up  a  new 
life,  with  all  its  bonds  and  its  charm,  is  as  repellant  as  the 
idea  of  a  new  bonnet  is  enticing.  For  such  women  the 
world  has  no  use.  Beautiful,  in  the  great  sense,  they  are 
not.  Incapable,  in  any  great  way,  of  either  loving  or  be- 
ing loved,  they  are  at  best  the  painted  bubbles  on  the 
stream  of  life.  Such  women  will  always  be  far  inferior  as 
mothers,  and  less  capable  of  bringing  into  the  world  noble 
offspring  than  those  women  in  the  humble  walks  of  life 
who  live  naturally,  who  love  the  family  ties  and  are  fond  of 
the  young. 

Great  mothers  must  have  a  certain  sort  of  hardihood 
which  comes  from  a  wise  physical  culture,  not  necessar- 
ily an  artificial  one, — a  life  in  the  open  air,  and  the  avoid- 
ance of  all  social  dissipation. 


Degeneracy  of  the  Breasts  and  Motherhood. 

A  sign  of  degeneracy  is  pointed  out  by  Hegar,  who 
appeals  to  young  men  on  behalf  of  posterity  to  choose 
for  wives  women  with  well-developed  breasts;  he  quotes 
statistics  to  prove  inability  to  nurse  a  child  a  sign  of  de- 


209 


generacy  which  produces  degeneracy  in  the  offspring. 
Among  other  facts  he  points  out  that  in  a  district  of  his 
knowledge,  which  supplies  a  large  number  of  wet  nurses  to 
the  city,  the  percentage  of  men  incapable  of  military  service 
amounts  to  30  per  cent.,  while  in  the  neighboring  districts, 
where  the  mothers  remain  at  home  with  their  families,  it 
is  only  18  per  cent.  He  remarks  upon  the  surprising 
number  of  deformed  nipples  encountered  in  the  hospitals. 
Fehling  mentions  "hollow  nipples"  as  occurring  in  6,7  of 
his  obstetric  cases.  He  warns  mothers  not  to  allow  the 
clothing  to  constrict  the  growing  breasts  of  their  daugh- 
ters, and  urges  general  hygiene  as  the  best  method  to  de- 
velop them. 

In  this  connection  the  question  may  be  asked,  Is  it 
possible  for  women  with  defective  breasts  to  become 
mothers  of  a  virile  race  of  men  and  strong  women.  In 
most  cases  it  is  not.  A  defect  in  this  part  of  their 
nature  is  evidence  of  a  weakened  constitution.  It  may 
bo  said,  that  the  breasts  do  not  always  develop  before 
marriage  and  parentage.  This  is  true,  and  if  the  health 
is  robust,  and  the  constitution  and  ancestry  good,  the 
mother  will,  in  most  cases,  be  able  to  nurse  her  child. 
If  it  is  known  in  advance  that  such  cannot  be  the  case, 
and  it  may  generally  be  known,  then  the  responsibili- 
ties of  motherhood  should  be  undertaken  with  the 
greater  precaution*  In  modern  times  we  have  far  better 
means  of  bringing  up  children  by  hand  than  formerly. 
Still,  a  mother  able  to  nurse  her  own  children  should  always 
be  preferred. 


210 


Location  of  Birth. 

In  Manchester,  England,  in  1892,  37,674  boys  out  of 
every  100,000  died  before  they  reached  their  fifth  year. 
In  healthy  districts  only  17,314  out  of  100,000  died, 
About  the  same  condition  prevails  in  other  places.  The 
lesson  it  teaches  us  is,  that  we  should  choose  a  healthy 
region  in  which  to  live  if  we  would  rear  the  healthiest  off- 
spring. 


Evolution. 

This  word  means  progress  and  progress  implies  improve- 
ment, without  which  there  could  be  no  evolution ;  but  im- 
provement of  the  human  race  will  not  be  further  possible 
unless  the  marriage  relation  is  regarded  from  a  higher 
stand-point  than  that  of  sexual  indulgence. 

The  practical  superiority  of  man  over  animals  consists 
in  his  knowledge  of  the  aim  of  his  conduct.  Animals 
exercise  the  reproductive  function  instinctively  at  particu- 
lar seasons,  but  man  knowingly  always ;  and  thus,  unless 
the  latter  subordinates  his  passion  to  reason  he  is  worse 
than  a  brute,  as  he  knows  himself  to  be  such. 

The  difference  between  the  chaste  marriage  of  affection 
and  the  unchaste  marriage  of  passion,  is  analogous  to  that 
between  education  and  instruction,  as  explained  by  Elder 
Evans  of  the  Shaker  Community.  Instruction  imparts 
knowledge,  such  as  is  associated  in  Eastern  lore  with  the 
sexual  passion,  but  education  embraces  the  whole  dispo- 
sition, which  is  rendered  more  beautiful  and  spiritual 


211 


through  a  marriage  of  chastity,  and  as  thus  affected  is 
transmitted  to  the  offspring,  who  exhibit  the  disposition  of 
their  parents  at  the  time  of  conception.  Sexual  excess  not 
only  tends  to  produce  offspring  of  a  weakly  constitution, 
but  it  interferes  with  the  organic  growth  of  the  parents. 
It  is  as  wasteful  as  burning  a  candle  at  both  ends  at  the 
same  time. 

Parents  should  bear  in  mind  that  the  mental  plan  on 
which  their  children  shall  begin  life,  depends  on  the  desire 
by  which  they  are  governed  when  they  beget  their  offspring; 
and  as  desire  depends  on  disposition,  they  should  aim  at 
requiring  harmony  of  character  and  conduct. 

If  we  think  less  of  ourselves  and  more  of  tl^e  race  to 
which  we  belong,  we  shall  have  a  better  chance  of  improv- 
ing both  ourselves  and  the  race  as  represented  in  our  off- 
spring, 

"We  are  all  members  of  a  great  organism,  which  is  con- 
stituted by  the  whole  of  human  kind,  past,  present  and 
future,  and  it  is  our  duty  to  act  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
whole  shall  be  benefited  by  our  conduct;  which  it  cannot 
be  if  we  are  careless  as  to  our  own  disposition  or  as  to  the 
character  of  our  offspring. 

Our  Aryan  ancestors  were  conscious  of  their  duty  to- 
wards the  race,  and  probably  to  this  fact  was  largely  due 
the  high  physical  development  the  white  race  attained. 
Only  by  acting  in  their  spirit  can  we  hope  to  maintain  the 
race  at  its  high  level  or  prevent  its  deterioration  and  decay. 

The  important  influence  which  the  gratification  of  the 
sexual  impulse  has  had  over  the  development  of  the 


212 


aesthetic  side  of  Nature  has  been  often  insisted  on ;  and 
there  is  no  reason  why  its  gratification  should  not  be  at- 
tended also  with  the  development  of  the  highest 
mental  qualities,  if  these  are  made  use  of  in  the  formation 
and  exercise  of  the  marriage  relations  between  the  sexes. 
— C.  STANILAND  WAKE. 


Too  Little  Fatherhood. 

The  modern  child  is  threatened  not  with  too  much  moth- 
er but  with  too  little  father,  and  this  danger  is  heightened 
by  the  sudden  release  of  womanhood  from  the  ban  of  con- 
ventionality and  of  the  domineering  power  of  physical 
force.  Let  her  not  too  readily  accept  as  complimentary  to 
herself  the  church's  adoration  of  Mary.  Woman  is  made 
of  no  purer  stuff  than  man,  her  companion,  man  her  father. 
She  cannot  transmit  from  her  own  veins  or  her  compan- 
ion's veins  any  purer  life  stuff,  any  finer  impulse  to  her 
daughter  than  she  does  to  her  son.  We  need  more  fathers 
in  the  home,  more  men  teachers  in  our  public  schools  ;  and 
if  our  homes  and  schools  are  not  organized  so  as  to  evoke 
and  direct  this  masculine  investment,  then  let  them  be  re- 
organized. It  is  not  true  that  mothers  are  peculiarly  the 
divinely  appointed  teachers  of  children,  that  to  them  is 
especially  entrusted  the  intellectual  or  spiritual  destinies  of 
the  young.  That  argument  is  based  upon  the  analogies  of 
the  past;  it  is  a  reversion  to  primitive  conditions,  an  illus- 
tration of  the  law  of  atavism,  like  the  return  to  six  fingers 
and  toes  in  some  people,  or  the  restoration  in  others  of  the 


213 


muscle  that  can  move  the  ear.  The  highest  reaches  of 
evolution  point  to  a  double  responsibility  and  a  double 
potency.  In  the  interest  of  the  child,  then,  let  us  lift  him 
out  of  a  mother  rule  into  a  father  and  mother  rule.  Let  the 
home  be  girdled  with  masculine  order  and  justice  as  well 
as  with  feminine  love  and  tenderness.  Let  there  be 
strength  as  well  as  tenderness.  Let  there  be  in  it 
mind  as  well  as  heart  vigor  as  well  as  sympathy.  All 
these  are  spiritual  children  which  cannot  be  born  except  in 
the  bi-sexual  realm. — KEV.  JENKIN  LLOYD  JONES. 


The  Flat-Head  Indians  and  Heredity. 

Amongs*  the  round-head  tribes  woman  holds  a  higher 
position,  whereas  amongst  the  flat-heads  she  is  a  mere 
drudge.  In  by-gone  days  it  was  common  to  see  a  tired- 
looking  woman  walking  behind  her  husband  carrying  a 
heavy  load,  while  he  walked  on  before  with  nothing. 

Again,  the  round-heads  have  a  remarkable  mythology, 
while  the  others  have  a  poor  affair. 

Mr.  Dean  has  informed  me  that  the  flat-head,  which 
would  be  an  acquired  character,  is  never  transmitted  to  off- 
spring— another  argument  against  the  Lamarchian  theory, 
that  acquired  characters  are  transmitted. 

That  whatever  injures  the  physical  or  intellectual  health 
of  parents  tends  to  degrade  their  offspring  has  long  been, 
evident.  I  think  we  have  a  good  race  illustration  of  this 
in  the  effects  of  flattening  and  deforming  the  skulls  of 
children  among  the  Flat-Head  Indians,  who  for  centuries 


214 


followed  this  precedent.  Information  has  been  furnished 
me  by  special  request  by  Mr.  James  Dean,  of  Victoria,  B. 
C.,  bearing  on  this  point.  He  writes  : 

"Among  the  children  the  mortality  seems  to  be  greater 
with  the  tribes  which  flatten  the  heads  of  their  children 
than  in  those  who  do  not.  I  have  long  noticed  that  there 
is  a  very  marked  intellectual  difference  between  them." 

The  Hidery  tribes  of  Northern  British  Columbia  and 
Southern  Alaska,  who  never  flattened  their  heads,  have 
long  been  famous  for  their  works  of  art,  such  as  elaborate 
carvings  in  wood  and  stone. 


Suggestion  as  an  Aid  in  the  Training  of 
Children. 

Within  a  few  years  an  old  subject,  that  of  hypnotism, 
formerly  called  mesmerism,  has  received  new  attention 
under  the  name  of  suggestion,  or,  in  medical  language, 
"suggestive  therapeutics."  It  was  used  in  a  rude  way  ty 
Mesmer  in  the  cure  of  disease.  Later  it  was  employed 
much  more  effectively  by  Braid  and  others  for  the  same 
purpose,  and  especially  for  the  prevention  of  pain  in  sur- 
gical operations.  "Want  of  space  forbids  our  going  into 
any  extended  historical  detail  as  to  its  application  for 
these  purposes,  but  a  few  points  will  be  considered,  which 
bear  on  the  subject. 

It  was  found  that  when  a  person  had  contracted  a  bud 
habit,  as,  for  instance,  smoking  or  drinking,  it  could  often 
be  broken  up  by  placing  him  in  the  mesmeric  sleep,  and 


215 


telling  him  he  would  no  longer  desire  to  continue  the 
habit,  but  would  even  loathe  them.  The  habit  of  sucking 
the  thumb,  a  bad  temper,  lying,  stealing,  dullness  and 
lack  of  ambition,  etc.,  were  amenable  to  this  treatment. 
To  illustrate :  A  boy  fifteen  years  old,  always  at  the  foot 
of  his  class,  was  put  into  the  hypnotic  sleep,  and  told 
that  he  would  be  able  to  study  harder  and  learn  his 
lessons  better,  so  as  to  go  to  the  head.  This  was  con- 
tinued daily  for  several  weeks,  and,  sure  enough,  he 
accepted  the  suggestion,  and  outstripped  every  scholar 
in  his  class,  and  kept  at  the  head  so  long  as  these  means 
were  used;  but,  unfortunately,  when  they  were  discon- 
tinued he  relapsed  into  his  first  state.  The  suggestions 
had  not  been  sufficiently  thorough  to  take  deep  root, 
and  become  a  part  of  his  nature,  as  might  have  been 
the  case  with  a  better  knowledge  as  to  how  to  use 
them.  So  long  ago  as  in  1892  Dr.  Berillon,  Editor 
of  The  Revue  de  V  Hypnotism,  read  a  paper  before  the 
Second  International  Congress  of  Experimental  Psychol- 
ogy, in  which  he  stated  that  he  had  observed  the  ben- 
eficial effects  of  hypnotism  in  education  in  some  250 
cases,  including  nervous  insomnia,  night  terror,  sleep- 
walking, kleptomania,  stammering,  idleness,  filthy  habits, 
cowardice  and  moral  delinquency.  He  also  stated  that 
other  observers  had  similar  experience.  My  friend,  Dr, 
B,  Osgood  Mason,  of  New  York,  working  on  the  same 
lines,  has  had  similar  experiences.  I  will  quote  a  few  illus- 
trative cases  furnished  by  him.  The  first  is  of  a  school- 
girl fifteen  years  of  age,  a  pupil  in  one  of  the  grammar- 


216 


schools  of  New  York — intelligent  in  many  ways ;  a  good 
reader  of  such  books  as  interested  her — history,  biography, 
and  the  better  class  of  novels ;  but  for  the  routine  of  school 
studies  she  had  no  aptitude,  and  she  was  constantly  being 
left  behind  in  her  classes.  She  could  not  concentrate  her 
mind  upon  details  which  did  not  specially  interest  her. 
If  she  succeeded  in  learning  a  lesson  she  could  not  re- 
member it,  or  if  she  remembered  it  until  she  arrived  at 
the  classroom,  when  she  arose  to  recite,  it  was  instantly 
gone;  her  mind  became  a  perfect  blank;  she  had  not  a 
word  to  say,  and  was  obliged  to  sit  down  in  disgrace.  She 
could  write  a  good  composition,  but  could  never  stand  up 
and  read  it  before  the  class.  Teachers  had  been  engaged 
to  give  her  special  lessons,  so  as  to  enable  her  to  pass  her 
preliminary  examination,  which  would  allow  her  to  come 
up  for  entrance  to  the  Normal  College.  After  months  of 
effort  they  reported  to  the  mother  that  it  was  utterly  use- 
less to  go  on ;  it  wras  impossible  for  her  to  pass  her  pre- 
liminary examination,  and  they  did  not  think  it  right  to 
take  her  money  without  any  such  expectation.  She  was 
then  brought  to  me  to  inquire  if  anything  could  be  done 
to  help  her.  I  proposed  hypnotic  suggestion.  It  was  then 
March  30;  the  first  examination  was  in  May.  I  com- 
menced treatment  at  once.  The  patient  went  into  a  quiet, 
subjective  condition,  with  closed  eyes,  but  did  not  lose 
consciousness.  I  suggested  that  she  would  be  able  to 
concentrate  her  mind  upon  her  studies ;  that  her  memory 
would  be  improved;  that  she  would  lose  her  excessive 
self-consciousness  and  timidity,  and  in  their  place  she 


217 


would  have  full  confidence  in  herself  and  be  able  to  stand 
up  before  the  class  and  recite.  She  was  kept  in  the  hyp- 
notic condition  one-half  hour  at  each  treatment,  and  the 
same  or  similar  suggestions  were  quietly  but  very  posi- 
tively made  and  repeated  at  intervals  during  that  time. 
She  at  once  reported  improvement  in  her  ability  both  to 
study  and  recite.  She  had  six  treatments,  and  on  May 
25  she  reported  that,  greatly  to  the  surprise  of  her  teach- 
ers, she  had  passed  her  preliminary  examination  with  a 
percentage  of  79,  which  entitled  her  to  come  up  for  the 
college  examination.  In  June  she  passed  her  examination 
for  entrance  to  the  Normal  College  with  a  percentage 
of  88 ;  entered  the  College  and  is  at  present  doing 
well,  though  the  suggestions  have  not  been  repeated  since 
May." 

Another  case  from  the  same  author  was  that  of  a  boy 
"  so  bad  as  to  be  perfectly  unmanageable,  and  his  temper 
so  outrageous,  that  his  mother  begged  me  to  come  to  the 
house  and  see  if  I  could  do  anything  with  him. 

"Having  secured  carte  blanche  for  whatever  course  I 
chose  to  pursue,  I  went.  He  was  in  the  back  room,  his 
grandmother  urging  him  forward,  he  kicking  and  resist- 
ing. Without  speaking,  I  went  directly  to  him,  seized 
him  firmly  by  one  wrist,  and  brought  him  topsy  turvy 
through  two  intervening  rooms,  gave  him  a  thorough 
shaking,  and  set  him  down  violently  in  a  chair.  He 
smoothed  down  his  bang,  whimpered  a  little,  and  grufly 
remarked  that  I  had  rumpled  his  hair.  I  told  him  I  had 
not  intended  to  disturb  his  hair,  but  that  as  he  had  never 


218 


obeyed  anybody  I  had  come  to  the  house  for  the  express 
purpose  of  making  him  obey  me,  and  I  should  most  cer- 
tainly do  it.  After  a  few  moments  I  said,  quietly,  '  Now 
go  and  lie  down  on  the  bed  in  the  next  room.'  He  started, 
walking  toward  the  bed,  but  when  near  it  he  set  off  on  a 
full  run  past  it  and  into  the  back  room.  I  brought  him 
back  and  again  ordered  him  to  lie  down  on  the  bed.  He 
went  toward  it  as  if  to  obey,  but  suddenly  sprang  under 
it,  and  clung  to  the  slats  underneath  with  hands  and  feet, 
and  hung  there  like  a  monkey.  I  dislodged  him,  pulled  him 
out,  gave  him  a  spanking,  and  surprised  him  by  tossing 
him  vigorously  upon  the  bed,  with  the  command  to  lie 
there  quietly  until  I  gave  him  permission  to  move.  He 
obeyed.  Presently  I  ordered  him  to  go  into  the  front 
room  and  sit  down  again  in  the  chair  he  had  before  occu- 
pied. Again  he  quietly  obeyed,  I  said :  l  All  right;  now 
you  understand  you  will  obey  me.  I  don't  want  to  hurt 
you.  I  want  to  be  a  good  friend  to  you,  only  you  must 
obey  me.' 

"  I  then  in  a  pleasant  way  gave  him  a  short  lesson,  pic- 
turing to  him  very  plainly  the  course  of  a  boy  such  as  he 
was,  and  where  it  would  be  likely  to  end ;  and  also  show- 
ing what  he  might  be  if  he  would  change  his  course.  I 
told  him  I  should  be  at  the  house  again  in  a  day  or  two, 
and  I  should  expect  him  to  meet  me  pleasantly,  shake 
hands  with  me,  and  do  whatever  I  directed  him. 

"  Next  day  there  came  a  telephone  message  begging  me 
to  come  up ;  M.  was  outrageous  again.  I  went.  He  was 
backward  in  greeting  me,  but  at  length  came  and  shook 


219 


hands.  I  afterward  learned  that  there  had  not  been  the 
slightest  improvement  in  his  behavior;  and  the  cause  of 
his  mother's  sending  for  me  was  his  outrageous  conduct 
at  the  table,  when,  in  a  fit  of  anger,  he  had  thrown  a  plate 
at  his  grandmother.  I  talked  to  him  pleasantly  a  mo- 
ment, and  then  said  very  quietly,  '  Now  go  and  lie  down 
on  the  bed.'  He  did  so  at  once.  I  sat  .down  beside  him, 
and  taking  his  two  thumbs  firmly  in  my  hands,  I  said: 
1  Now,  M.,  I  want  you  to  look  steadily  at  that  little  stud 
in  my  shirt-front ;  keep  your  eyes  very  steadily  fixed  upon 
it.'  He  did  so,  and  I  never  secured  better  or  more  con- 
centrated attention  from  any  patient, 

"  In  five  or  six  minutes  his  eyelids  quivered  and  soon 
dropped,  I  closed  them,  suggesting  sleep ;  and  directly 
he  was  in  the  sound  hypnotic  sleep.  I  then  presented  the 
two  pictures  again — the  bad  and  the  good  course — and 
suggested  that  they  would  always  be  present,  distinct  in 
in  his  mind,  that  he  would  dislike  the  wrong  course  and 
desire  to  avoid  it,  and  choose  the  good  one.  I  suggested 
definitely  that  he  would  be  kind  and  considerate  to  his 
mother,  and  obey  her  as  well  as  me.  I  repeated  these 
suggestions  very  positively,  let  him  sleep  ten  minutes,  and 
repeated  them  again,  and  then  awoke  him  by  counting. 

"The  effect  of  this  treatment  was  very  marked;  his 
whole  manner  at  home  was  changed,  and  he  became  com- 
paratively docile  and  manageable. 

"  He  came  to  my  office  for  his  next  treatment,  which 
was  perfectly  successful.  I  have  given  him  in  all  six 
treatments,  and  the  improvement  has  been  maintained 


220 


and  increased.  He  is  not  yet  by  any  means  perfect,  but 
his  general  behavior  is  changed,  and  I  am  suggesting  such 
definite  improvements  in  his  conduct,  and  impressing  such 
pictures  upon  his  mind,  as  I  think  will  help  to  develop  his 
better  nature  and  qualities.  He  is  a  lover  of  flowers,  and 
on  two  occasions  has  brought  some  of  his  own  choosing 
to  me.  He  has  lost  none  of  his  boyishness ;  he  is  full  of 
life ;  is  mischievous,  playing  tricks  even  upon  his  mother ; 
but  he  is  affectionate  and  generally  obedient.  His  will  is 
not  broken,  but  he  has  self-control,  and  he  is  far  more 
considerate  of  others  than  formerly.  In  short,  he  is  a  fair 
example  of  one  of  the  educational  uses  of  hypnotism  and 
suggestion," 

The  only  other  case  I  will  quote  is  one  of  night  terrors. 

"  A  little  girl,  five  years  of  age,  went  soundly  to  sleep 
when  first  put  to  bed,  but  after  two  or  three  hours  she 
awoke  screaming  and  trembling  with  terror,  on  account 
of  the  hideous  black  man  whom  she  saw  in  her  dream. 
The  impression  of  the  dream  was  vivid  and  persistent, 
and  her  screams  kept  the  household  aroused  and  alarmed 
for  hours  every  night,  and  this  state  of  things  had  already 
continued  for  months.  One  day,  when  she  was  perfectly 
bright  and  happy,  I  placed  her  in  her  high  chair  in  front 
of  me;  put  my  hands  gently  upon  her  shoulders,  and 
asked  her  to  look  steadily  at  a  trinket  easily  in  her  vie^y, 
and  quieted  her  with  passes  and  soothing  touches  uutil 
her  drooping  eyelids  denoted  the  subjective  condition.  I 
then  commenced  in  a  gentle,  sing-song  manner  to  suggest 
that  she  would  go  easily  to  sleep  as  usual  at  night,  but 


221 


that  she  would  have  no  frightful  dreams ;  that  she  would 
see  the  dreadful  black  man  no  more,  but  would  sleep 
quietly  on  the  whole  night  through.  It  was  repeated  over 
and  over  in  the  same  gentle  manner. 

"  That  was  a  year  ago  ;  she  has  not  seen  the  black  man 
since,  and  her  sleep  and  health  have  been  perfect.  There 
was  no  repetition  of  the  treatment." 

From  these  few  cases,  and  many  not  quoted,  it  appears 
evident  that  we  have  in  hypnotism,  or  suggestion,  an 
agent  which,  when  fully  understood,  will  be  of  great  use- 
fulness to  parents  in  the  early  training  of  children.  That 
it  should  be  used  wisely  no  one  will  deny. 

The  question  will  naturally  arise,  How  is  it  that  a  sug- 
gestion to  a  child  while  passive  or  in  the  hypnotic  sleep  is 
more  effective  than  when  awake.  The  answer  is  not  so 
easy  to  give ;  but  it  is  possible  that  in  this  state  the  sub- 
liminal self,  the  higher  self,  or,  perhaps,  the  spiritual 
nature  is  appealed  to ;  and  as  the  active,  every-day  nature, 
the  conscious  self,  is  now  dormant,  it  receives  this  appeal 
more  seriously.  Perhaps  a  quotation  from  Prof.  Frederic 
W.  H,  Myer,  who  has  given  the  subject  profound  atten- 
tion, will  help  to  make  the  subject  clearer.  He  says:  "  In 
waking  consciousness  I  am  like  the  proprietor  of  a  fac- 
tory whose  machinery  I  do  not  understand.  My  foreman, 
my  subliminal  self,  weaves  for  me  so  many  yards  of  broad- 
cloth per  diem  (my  ordinary  vital  processes),  as  a  matter 
of  course.  If  I  want  any  pattern  more  complex,  I  have  to 
shout  my  orders  in  the  din  of  the  factory,  where  only  two 
or  three  inferior  workmen  hear  me,  and  they  shift  their 


222 


looms  in  a  small  and  scattered  way.  Such  are  the  con- 
fined and  capricious  results  of  the  first,  the  more  familiar 
stages  of  hypnotic  suggestion. 

"  At  certain  intervals,  indeed,  the  foreman  stops  most  of 
the  looms,  and  uses  the  freed  power  to  stoke  the  engine 
and  oil  the  machinery.  This,  in  my  metaphor,  is  sleep ; 
and  it  will  be  effective  hypnotic  trance  if  I  can  get  the 
foreman  to  stop  still  more  of  the  looms,  come  out  of  his 
private  room,  and  attend  to  my  orders — my-self  sugges- 
tions— for  their  repair  and  re-arr  augment." 

To  make  this  a  little  plainer.  The  subliminal  self,  the 
foreman,  is  the  one  who  manages  the  machinery  of  the 
nervous  system,  and  turns  out  this  or  that  sort  of  conduct 
or  behavior  in  the  child,  or  the  man  or  woman,  as  he  is 
told  to  turn  out  by  the  conscious  self.  But  in  the  hyp- 
notic trance  this  subliminal  self  can  take  orders,  or  sug- 
gestions, for  other  kinds  of  conduct  or  behavior ;  alter  the 
action  of  the  brain,  so  as  to  make  another  sort  of  crea_ 
ture ;  for  he  is  not  so  occupied  then  but  that  he  can  re- 
ceive these  orders.  As  in  the  kaleidescope,  the  pictures 
presented  depend  entirely  on  the  arrangement  of  the  pieces 
of  glass.  So  in  daily  conduct,  character  depends  on  the 
combination  and  activity  of  the  brain  cells.  By  sugges- 
tion in  the  hypnotic  state  we  are  able,  to  some  extent  at 
least,  to  alter  this  combination  so  that  new  conduct  is  pre- 
sented. 

The  question  now  arises,  How  can  the  parent  make  use 
of  this  agent  in  altering  the  nature  of  a  child  from  one 
that  is  not  desirable  to  one  that  is  ?  Probably  the  best  way 


223 


to  proceed  would  be  to  take  it  while  sleeping,  and  make 
the  suggestion  then;  for  ordinary  sleep  is  not  different 
from  hypnotic  sleep,  except  in  degree.  As  the  child  is 
in  the  act  of  going  to  sleep,  let  the  mother,  or  whoever 
is  to  make  the  suggestion,  sit  by  its  side,  take  it  by  the 
hand  and  gently  soothe  it  with  pleasant  words  or  music, 
in  a  firm  but  agreeable  voice.  Let  her  say  slowly :  Now 
you  are  going  to  sleep,  sleep,  sleep.  You  will  soon  be 
sleeping  sweetly.  How  nice  it  is  to  sleep  and  rest  our 
bodies  so  that  we  can  feel  well  and  strong  on  the  coming 
day.  This  sleep  is  going  to  do  you  a  great  deal  of  good. 
You  will  not  have  bad  dreams.  You  will  not  see  ugly 
faces  or  wake  up  with  a  fright.  Tomorrow  you  will  wake 
up  good-natured,  full  of  life,  and  will  be  good  boy  (or 
girl,  as  the  case  may  be),  and  do  your  best  to  make  mother 
happy  and  proud  of  you.  You  will  want  to  play  and  en- 
joy the  fresh  air  and  sunshine ;  relish  your  food ;  not  eat 
too  much,  etc.,  etc.,  according  to  the  needs  of  the  child. 
If  it  is  timid  and  fearful  of  thunder,  or  dogs,  or  horses,  or 
other  harmless  things,  you  can  say  to  it,  Now,  you  will  not 
be  afraid  any  more  of  thunder  but  like  to  hear  it.  This, 
like  all  other  suggestions,  must  be  repeated  several  times, 
so  as  to  make  an  impression.  If  afraid  of  strangers,  say, 
now,  you  will  not  fear  men,  or  persons  you  don't  know ; 
repeating  it  slowly  over  and  over  again.  If  the  child  uses 
bad  language,  say,  Now  you  will  not  want  to  use  bad 
words  any  more,  and  will  be  careful  how  you  speak.  If  it 
has  a  cold,  put  the  hand  over  the  chest  and  say,  Now 
your  cold  will  get  well  quickly,  and  not  grow  worse.  If  it 


224 


lias  the  unfortunate  habit  of  wetting  the  bed  at  night, 
even  this  can  be  broken  up,  often  by  one  suggestion,  and 
surely  by  several  repeated  so  as  to  take  deep  root  in  the 
mind.  This  latter  is  necessary  to  produce  any  effect, 
In  case  of  disease,  even  serious  disease,  when  a  physician 
is  necessary,  suggestion  may  be  used  by  the  nurse  or 
parents,  or  the  physician,  if  he  has  learned  the  art,  to  ad- 
vantage; but  if  the  parents  are  anxious  or  weary,  they 
had  better  leave  it  for  those  who  are  not  weary  or  anxious; 
otherwise  they  may  transfer  their  own  condition  instead 
of  one  of  health.  The  state  of  mind  and  body  of  the 
operator  should  be  a  stable,  equable  and  wholesome  one. 

The  age  at  which  suggestion  may  be  of  use  is  hardly 
yet  known.  Certainly  so  soon  as  the  understanding  has 
become  developed  it  may  be  employed,  though  the  lan- 
guage should  be  simplified  for  the  childish  understanding. 
Before  this  it  is  of  doubtful  utility ;  but  some  experiments 
which  have  been  made  intimate  that  good  health  may 
sometimes  be  transmitted  from  a  healthy  person  to  a  very 
young  sick  child  by  thought  transference. 

Thought  transference  is  the  transference  from  one  to 
another  person  of  some  feeling,  sensation  or  idea.  The 
person  from  whom  the  thought  is  transferred  is  the  active 
agent,  and  the  one  who  receives  it  is  the  passive  one. 
Often  this  phenomenon  takes  place  spontaneously,  as 
when  one  is  in  trouble,  or  at  the  point  of  d}Ting,  a  knowl 
edge  of  it  may  sometimes  bs  transferred  to  an  intimate 
friend  who  is  in  sympathy.  la  the  hypnotic  state,  thought 
transference  can  sometimes  be  induced  artificially;  and 


225 


the  point  here  to  be  considered  is  the  transference  to  the 
child  of  healthy  normal  sensations  to  replace  the  abnormal 
ones  which  may  have  taken  possession  of  consciousness 
and  caused  trouble. 

The  important  thing  always  to  have  in  mind  in  using 
psychic  forces  on  children  is  to  instil  natural,  or  normal, 
conditions,  not  unnatural  or  abnormal  ones.  To  this  end 
to  produce  the  best  results,  the  active  agent  should  be  a 
normally  healthy  person,  having  good  common  sense,  and 
living  a  normal,  natural  life.  Those  with  sickly,  senti- 
mental or  fanciful  notions,  if  they  try  to  use  suggestion 
may  transfer  these  states  to  the  child,  which  would  do 
harm  rather  than  good. 


INDEX. 


Acquired  characters,  inheritance  of— 71,  73,  77  et  seq.,  70,  5)0,  109, 

111,  et  seq. 

Acquired  characters  not  transmitted — 213 
Adaptation  to  environment  necessary  for  health — 149 
Aesthetic  sense  displayed  by  animals — 28 
Aesthetic  surroundings  during  gestation— 95 
Air,  regarded  as  food— 174 

200 

Alcohol,  as  a  poison— 91 
Alcohol,  effect  of,  on  offspring— 171 

Allen,  Joseph  A.,  observations  of,  as  to  effects  of  war  on  children — 
Allen,  Grant— ^,  48,  51,  180 
Amphimixis,  theory  of — 76 
Ancestral  ids— 75 

Ancestral  tendencies,  correction  of — 126 
Animals,  practical  superiority  of  man  over,  what?— 210 
Animal  flesh,  supposed  effect  of  eating — 63 
Atavism  in  relation  to  disease— 83 

Baby,  a  theoretical — 185  et  seq. 

Bad  habits,  broken  up  by  suggestion  during  mesmeric  sle^p — 214 

Bad  temper  cured  by  hypnotic  suggestion — 217  et  seq. 

Beauty,  reference  of  sexual  selection  to — 28 

Bees,  instincts  of — 122 

Berillon,    Dr.,    on   beneficial  effect  of  hypnotism  over  bad  habits, 

etc.— 215 

Birthmarks— 59,  68,  94 
Blood,  healthy,  purifying  influence  of — 92 
Blood,  study  of  the— 140,  151 

Bones,  modification  of  certain,  through  sitting — 116 
Boys,  mortality  among  larger  than  with  girls— 136 
Breasts,  best  methods  of  developing — 209 


Breasts,  defective,  women  having,  incapable  of  becoming  mothers  of 

a  virile  race — 209 

Breasts,  development  of,  after  marriage  and  parentage—  209 
Breasts,  degeneracy  of  the,  and  motherhood — 208 
Breeding  in  and  in,  Noyes'  first  principle  for  race  improvement — 38 

Camp  life,  evils  of —202 

Cases  of  prenatal  influences — 204  et  seq. 

Cells,  sexual— 110,  162 

Chandler,  Jennie — 97 

Character,  dependence  of,  on  arrangement  of  nerve  cells — 222 

Character,  improvement  by  suggestion,  method  to  be  employed  by 

parents  for— 223 

Character  of  children  affected  by  war— 201 
Characteristics,  origin  of,  through  sexual  selection — 134 
Charles,  Havelock—116 
Chickamauga  Camp,  prostitution  at — 202 
Children  acquire  special  aptitudes  from  mothers — 205 
Child  bearing,  best  age  for — 170 
Children,  breeding  of,  in  Plato's  Republic — 11,  12 
Children  considered  as  belonging  to  the  State — 10  et  seq.,  22 
Children,  deaths  of,  in  New  York  city — 139 
Children,  healthy,  essentials  for  having — 168 
Children,  interests  of  unborn — 199 

Children,  characteristics  of,  in  the  Oneida  Community — 39 
Children  in  the  Oneida  Community,  care  of — 38 
Children,  mortality  among — 136 

Children,  obstacle  of  war  to  production  and  training  of — 203 
Child  training  aided  by  suggestion — 214  et  seq. 
Children,  training  of — 16  et  seq.,  52 

Civil  War  and  how  it  affected  the  character  of  children — 201 
Co-adaptation  of  parts   as  evidence  of  transmission    of    acquired 

characters — 116 

Coalescence  of  sperm  and  germ  cells — 166 

Concentrative  power,  want  of,  cured  by  hypnotic  suggestion — 216 
Conduct,  knowledge  of  its  object,  not  possessed  by  animals — 210 
Congenital  characters,  transmission  of — 177 
Congenital  deformities — 80 

Consanguineous  marriages  among  the  Greeks — 23 
Consanguineous    marriages,   regulations  as   to,    among  uncultured 

peoples— 21,  42 
Consanguineous  marriages,  effect  on  offspring — 42 


228 

Constitution,  bodily,  improvement  of  the— 150 

Consumption,  causes  of— 176 

Consumption,  tendency  to,  whether  a  bar  to  marriage — 176 

Contentment,  value  of— 95 

Continuity  of  germ-plasm— 107,  118 

Co-operation,  hygienic  value  of — 156  et  seq. 

Cope,  Prof.  R  D.—  59,  69 

Cousins,  marriage  between — i3 

Couvade,  custom  of  the — 63  et  seq. 

Crimes,  increase  of,  caused  by  war — 201 

Ltarwin,  Charles— 28,  30  et  seq.,  73,  75,  85,  100,   105,  10(5,   l<w,   181, 

141,  179 

Death,  causes  of — 150 
Deformities,  congenital — 80 

Degeneracy  of  the  breasts  and  motherhood — 208 
Degeneracy  in  offspring  due  to  maternal  degeneracy  evidenced  by 

inability  to  nurse  a  child— 208 
Degeneration,  evidence  of — 140 

Development  of  breasts  after  marriage  and  parentage— 209 
Diseases,  influence  of  hygiene  over — 159 
Diseases,  inheritance  of — 80 
Diseases  which  affect  offspring — 175 

Disposition  spiritualized  through  marriage  of  chastity — 210 
Disproportion  between  accidental  causes  and  effects — 68,  90 
Diversity  between  offspring  and  parents,  causes  of — 58 
Domestication  of  animals — 9 
Doutrebente,  Prof.  —92 
Drink,  influence  of,  over  offspring — 16 
Duncan,  J.  C.  Mathews — 170 

Education,  beneficial  effects  of  hypnotism  in— 215 

Education  and  heredity — 111  et  seq. 

Education  and  non-transmission  of  acquired  characters — 124 

Education  of  Spartan  children — 15 

Education,  Plutarch  on— 17 

Education,  study  of  laws  of  evolution,  as  part  of — 125 

Educational  uses  of  hypnotism  and  suggestion — 220 

Egg.     See  Ovum. 

Eimer.  Dr.  G.  II.—  71,  79  d  seq.,  90 

Embryo,  how  parental  properties  communicated  to — 60 

Embryology,  importance  of — 103 


229 

Energy,  bodily,  use  and  abuse  of — 153 

Euvironment,  adaptation  to,  necessary  for  health — 149 

Epigeuesis,  theory  of — KM 

Esquirol  on  the  effects  of  the  French  Revolution  over  children— 200 

Ethics  of  the  body,  hygiene  as  the— 160 

Evolution,  a  superior  race  produced  by — 130  el  seq. 

Evolution,  meaning  of  the  term — 210 

Evolution  of  the  horse — 102 

Evolution,  study  of  laws  of,  as  part  of  education — 125 

Evolutionary  theories,   conflict   of,    with   humane   sentiments — 145 

et  seq. 

Example,  influence  of,  over  children— 18 
Exercise,  transmission  of  effects  of — 111 
Experiment  in  race  improvement  by  Noyes — 37  et  seq, 
Explanation  of  the  action  of  hypnotic  suggestion— 221 

Family  life,  abolition  of,  in  Plato's  Republic — 10 

Father  rule  should  be  combined  with  mother  rule — 213 

Fatherhood,  too  little  importance  assigned  to — 212 

Feeble  constitutions  prevent  numerous  offspring — 147 

Fertilization  essential  to  true  germ  plasm— 165 

Fertilization,  nature  of— 166 

Fison,  Lorimer — 42 

Fitness  for  survival,  characteristics  of— 140 

Flat  head  Indians  and  heredity— 213 

Flat  head  and  round  head  tribes,  comparison  between — 213 

Flat  head  not  transmitted  to  offspring — 213 

Flattening  the  skull,  injurious  effect  of  on  health — 214 

Flint,  Dr.  Austin— 88 

Food,  how  it  affects  germ  plasm — 173 

Food  (certain)  injurious  influence  of — 94 

Foot,  compression  of,  by  Chinese  ladies — 20 

Fosterage — 96 

French  Revolution,  evil  effects  of  over  children — 200 

Gallon,  Francte-46,  50,  73,  106,  135,  170 
Gemmules,  essential  to  pangenesis — 105,  106 
Generation,  influences  over,  at  time  of  conception — 57,  58 
Generation,  influences  over,  subsequent  to  conception — 58 
Generative  powers,  debilitation  of  the— 84 
Germ  plasm  and  heredity— 107,  162 


230 

Germ  plasm,  continuity  of  the--73,  74  et  seq.,  107,  118 

Germ  plasm,  how  affected  by  food— 173 

Germ  plasm,  modification  of  the — 76,  80 

Germ  variations,  causes  of — 81 

Gestation  (period  of)  importance  of  pleasant  surroundings  during— 5)3 

Gestation,  maternal  influence  during — 96 

Gestation,  strong  emotion  during,  effect  of —63,  04 

Gestation,  uterine  disturbances  during — 93 

Girls,  physical  training  of,  among  Spartans — 14 

Girls,  mortality  among,  smaller  than  with  boys — 136 

Great  mothers,  how  constituted — 208 

Group  marriage  of  Australian  natives — 21 

Ilaeckd,  Ernst— 109 

Harvey— 103 

Haycraft,  John  Berry— 143 

Head  flattening— 20 

Health,  action  of  nature  in  relation  to — 130 

Health,  transmission  of,    by  thought   transference,    to   j'oung  sick 

child-224 

Healthy  localities  enable  the  healthiest  offspring  to  be  reared — 210 
Health,  adaptation  to  environment  necessary  for — 149 
Health,  ideal  of— 148 

Health,  importance  of,  in  relation  to  marriage— 135,  168,  171 
Hearn,  Professor— 67 
Hedonism,  New — 48 

Hereditary  tastes  of  children — 204  et  seq. 
Heredities,  antagonistic,  of  two  parents — 58 
Heredity  among  Flat-head  Indians— 213 
Heredity,  definition  of— 100 
Heredity  and  education — 111  et  seq. 
Heredity,  evils  arising  from,  may  be  cured — 35 
Heredity,  exceptions  to  law  of— 58 
Heredity  and  germ  plasm— 107 

Heredity,  importance  of  knowledge  of,  by  teachers — 125 
Heredity,  modification  of  law  of— 99 
Heredity,  preponderating  influence  of — 69,  89 
Heredity,  rational  view  of — 109 
Heredity,  spectre  of — 127  et  seq. 
Heredity,  theories  of — 73  et  seq. 
Heredity,  transformation  of— 83 
Bering,  Richard — 70 


231 

Hidery  tribes  of  British  Columbia— 214 

High-pressure,  effects  of  living  at — 152 

Hypnotic  sleep,  differs  from  ordinary  sleep  only  in  degree — 223      » 

Hypnotic  suggestion,  value  of,  as  aid  to  education — 216 

Hypnotism  as  suggestive  therapeutics — 214 

Horse,  evolution  of  the — 102 

Human  selection,  plans  for — 135  et  seq. 

Human  kind,  regarded  as  a  whole,  should  be  benefited  by  our  con- 
duct—211 

Human  race,  further  improvement  of  impossible,  if  marriage  rela- 
tion be  regarded  only  from  standpoint  of  sexual  indulgence — 210 

Humane  sentiments,  conflict  of,  with  theories  of  evolution — 145  et 
seq. 

Husband  and  wife,  tendency  to  resemble  each  other — 89 

Huth,  A.  #.-42 

Hyg'iene,  modern,  as  opposed  to  natural  selection — 142  et  seq. 

Hygiene,  as  the  ethics  of  the  body — 160 

Hygiene,  promises  of — 158  et  seq. 

Hygienic  laws,  punishment  for  infraction  of — 161 

Hygienic  surroundings,  importance  of — 139 

Hygienic  training,  value  of — 151 

Ideal  of  Health— 148 

Idiots,  ediication  of — 25 

Illustrative  cases  of  prenatal  influence — 60  et  seq. 

Imagination,  effect  of,  on  unborn  offspring — 55  et  seq. 

Improvement  of  race.     See  race  improvement. 

Incas  of  Peru,  consanguineous  marriages  among  the — 23 

Income,  bodily,  importance  of  living  within  — 152 

Individual,  the,  as  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  race — 50 

Individuality,  development  of  the — 126 

Infanticide  among  Spartans—  15 

Infanticide,  former  general  prevalence  of — 10 

Infanticide  in  Plato's  Republic— 11 

Infanticide  not  morally  permissible — 24 

Inheritance  of  acquired  characters,  question  as  to  the — 71,  73,  77 

79,  90, 109,  111  et  seq. 
Inheritance,  organic,  wonders  of — 101 
Injuries  during  life,  transmission  of — 79  et  seq. 
Injury  to  health  through  flattening  the  skull— 214 
Instinct,  explanations  of  origin  of— 12  L 


232 

Instincts  of  the  race  for  children,  loss  of '208 

Instruction  and  education,  difference  between— 210 
Intelligence  affected  by  head  flattening— 214 

Jacob,  rods  of — 56 

Jeune,  Lady  Mary — 47 

Jewett,  Professor  B.— 25  et  seq.  34 

Kraft,  D.  Von  Ebing—82,  84,  91 

Lamarck — 111 

Lamarchian  theory  of  transmission— 213 

Language,  not  transmitted  to  offspring— 119 

Leeukwenhock— 103 

Limitation  of  offspring — 170  et  seq. 

Locust,  egg-laying  instinct  of — 123 

Luxury  and  parentage — 208 

Lycwrgus,  marriage  regulations  of — 13  etseq.,  22,  27 

Lyman,  Dr.  C.  W.,  on  treatment  of  a  baby — 185  et  seq. 

Man,  variations  undergone  by — 138 

Man,  practical  superiority  of,  over  animals,  what — 210 

Manufacturing  life,  unhealtniness  of — 152 

Manufacturing  mills,  deterioration  caused  by — 158 

Marriage,  consanguineous,  ideas  as  to — 21,  42 

Marriage  customs  among  Spartans — 18,  19 

Marriage,  early,  disadvantages  of — 137 

Marriage,  importance  of  health  in  relation  to — 135 

Marriage,  regulations  as  to,  in  Plato's  Republic- — 22,  25 

Marriage  of  weak  and  worthless — 137 

Marriage,  a  sacred  state — 52 

Marriage  of  chastity,  disposition  spiritualized  by — 210 

Marriages  of  affection  and  passion,  difference  between,  analogous  to 

that  between  education  and  instruction — 210 
Mason,  Dr.  B.  Osgood,  on  beneficial  effect  of  hynotism  in  education 

—215 

Maternity,  avoidance  of — 208 
Me  Gee,  Dr.  Anita  Newcomb — 37 

Memory,  endowment  of  reproductive  cells  with—  70 
Memory,  improvement  of,  by  hypnotic  suggestion — 21G 
Mental  dullness,  curable  by  suggestion  during  hypnotic  sleep — 215 


233 

Mental  emotion  of  mother,  injury  to  unborn  child  through — 200 

Mi-smeric  sleep,  effect  of  suggestion  during — 214 

.Mt  snierism,  now  known  as  hypnotism — 214 

Method  to  be  employed  by  parents  for  using  suggestion  in  child 

training— 223 

Microbes,  selective  action  of — 143 

Mind  of  operator,  state  of,  necessary  to  successful  suggestion — 224  5 
Modification  of  certain  bones  through  sitting — 116 
Modification  of  the  organism  during  descent  from  first  ancestors— 71 
Modification  of  sense  of  touch — 114 
Modification  of  toes— 112 
Modification  of  the  whale— 115 
Molecular  structure  of  sexual  cells— 110 
Monogamy,  return  to,  by  the  Oneida  Community— 40,  41,  53 
Moral  nature,  growth  of  the — 146 
Mosaic  regulations  as  to  unclean  animals — 63 
Motherhood,  highest,  war  an  enemy  to— 201 
Motherhood  and  degeneracy  of  the  breasts—  208 
Mothers,  not  peculiarity  the  divinely  appointed  teachers  of  children 

—212 

Musical  talent,  not  transmitted  to  offspring— 120 
Mutilations,  not  transmissible — 119 
Meyer,  Prof.  Frederic  W.  B.,  on  hypnotic  suggestion— 221 

Natural  selection— 9,  115,  138,  142 
Natural  selection,  always  operative — 147 
Nature,  action  of,  in  relation  to  health — 130 

Nerve  cells,  constitution  of,  alterable  by  hypnotic  suggestion — 222 
Nervous  system,  debilitation  of  the — 84 
Night  terrors  cured  by  hypnotic  suggestion— 220 
Nipples,  deformed,  common  occurrence  of—  209 
Nisbet,  J.  F.-90,  92 

Non-nursing  of  children  a  sign  of  degeneracy— 208 
Normal  conditions  only  should  be  transferred  by  hypnotic  sugges- 
tion—225 
Nose  molding — 20 
Notes— 199  et  seq. 
Noyes,  John  Humphrey  —37  et  seq. 
Nucleus  of  cell,  essential  to  reproduction — 107 
Nutrition,  action  of,  on  germ  cells — 151 
Nutrition  (arrested)  organic  effect  of — 77 


234 

Obedience  the  basis  of  education  among  the  Spartans — 15 

Offspring,  effect  of  alcohol  on— 171 

Offspring,  effect  of  consanguineous  marriage  on — 12 

Offspring,  influence  of  locality  on  health  of— 210 

Offspring,  injuriously  affected  by  sexual  excess  of  parents— 211 

Oflfspring,inception  of,  the  starting  point  of  stirpiculture— 52 

Offspring,  limitation  of — 179  et  seq. 

Oneida  Community — 37  et  seq. 

Ovuin — 163  et  seq. 

Ovum,  the  beginning  of  animal  life — 101,  163 

Ovum,  developmental  tendency  of  the — 110 

Ovum,  effect  of  gestation  on  the — 102 

Ovum  of  different  animals,  apparent  similarity  of  the — 163 

Paget,  Sir  James— 148 

Pain,  prevention  of,  in  surgical  operations — 214 

Pangenesis,  experiments  in — 106 

Pangenesis,  theory  of — 75,  105,  109 

Panmixia,  theory  of — 78 

Paper  mill  (New  England) — 154 

Parentage  and  luxury — 208 

Parentage  and  war — 199 

Parentage,  responsibility  in — 49,  181 

Parentage,  Plato's  restrictions  on — 11 

Parentage,  sacredness  of — 93 

Parents,  how  to  make  use  of  suggestion  in  the  training  of  children 

—222 
Parents,   organic  growth   of,  injuriously  affected  by  sexual  excess 

—211 

Parental  life,  influence  of,  over  offspring — 95 
Perfectionists  of  the  Oneida  Community— 37  et  seq. 
Phillips,  Wendell— IIS 
Physical  culture— 160 

Physical  training  of  girls  among  Spartans— 14 
Physical  weakness  may  be  associated  with  mental  greatness— 34 
Tlato,  Republic  of— 10  et  seq.,— 25 
Plutarch— 13,  16  et  seq. 
Poisons,  actions  of,  on  the  sexual  cells— 91 

Poverty,  obstacle  of,  to  production  and  training  of  the  young— 203 
Preference,  as  exhibited  among  animals — 131 
Preference,  as  exhibited  among  men — 133 
Preference,  first  principle  of  sexual  selection— 131 


235 

Prenatal  culture — 55  et  seq. 

Prenatal  culture,  illustrative  cases  of — 60  et  seq. 

Prenatal  influence — 112 

Prenatal  influence  in  telegony— 85 

Prenatal  influences,  cases  of — 204  et  seq. 

Principles  on  which  sexual  selection  is  based — 38,  131 

Progress  in  organic  life — 9 

Promiscuity  regulated  in  Oneida  Community— 37 

Promiscuity  regulated  in  Plato's  Republic — 11 

Prostitution,  camp  life  a  school  for — 202 

Psychical  diseases,  heredity  of —82  et  seq. 

Psychological  laws,  uncertain  effect  of — 68 

Psychological  research,  laboratories  for— 160 

Quartrefages,  M.  de— 59 

Race  (human)  deterioration  of  the,   through  hygienic  action— 143 

et  seq. 

Race,  improvement  of  the,  aim  of — 36 

Race,  improvement  of  the,  based  on  spiritual  sympathy — 58 
Race  improvement,  experiment  in,  of  the  Oneida  Community — 37 

et  seq. 

Race  improvement,  failure  of  compulsory  attempts  at — 27 
Race  improvement,  Grecian  methods  for— 10  d  seq. 
Race  improvement,  Grecian  methods  not  suited  for  modern  times 

-24 

Race  improvement,  natural  factors  in — 1 
Race  improvement,  State  aid  to — 37,  53 
Race  should  be  thought  of  before  ourselves — 211 
Reproductive  function,   difference   in  exercise  of,  by  animals  and 

man— 210 

Responsibility  in  parentage — 49,  181 
Ribot,  Th.—W,  68,  83 
Romanes,  G.  J.—  28,  73,  85,  87 
Ruin  of  countries  by  the  burdens  of  war — 203 

Sacredness  of  parentage — 93 
Saint-HUaire,  Geoffory—68 
Sampson,  mother  of — 172 
Science  of  true  living,  hygiene  as  the — 160 

Scottish   Co-operative   Wholesale  Society's    manufacturing     mill — 
156  et  seq. 


236 

Selection,  artificial,  by  man— 9 
Selection,  individual,  by  Noyes — 38 
Selection,  natural,  see  "Natural  selection." 
Selection,  sexual,  see  "  Sexual  selection." 
Selective  action  of  female  animals- 28  et  seq. 
Selective  action  of  woman  in  marriage — i3  et  seq. 
Self-control,  importance  of —96 

Self -consciousness,  excessive,  cured  by  hypnotic  suggestion — 216 
Self -development — 48 

Sense  of  touch,  modification  of,  through  use — 114 
Sex-instinct — 51 
Sexual  cells — 162 

Sexual  cells,  acquired  powers  of — 110 

Sexual  excess  injuriously  affects  both  parents  and  offspring— 211 
Sexual   impulse,  gratification  of  the,  consistent  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  highest  mental  qualities — 212 
Sexual  selection — 27  et  seq.,  131  et  seq. 
Sexual  selection,  action  of,  among  primeval  men — 179 
Sexual  selection  applicable  primarily  to  male  characteristics — 30 
Sexual  selection  by  women,  effect  of — 44  et  seq. 
Sexual  selection,  influence  of — 31,  33 

Sick  child,  transmission  of  health  to,  by  thought  transference — 224 
Sire,  previous,  influence  of,  on  subsequent  progeny — 86  et  seq. 
Sleep,  ordinary,  differs  from  hypnotic  sleep  only  in  degree — 223 
Smith,  Sidney— 121 

Sobriety,  importance  of,  in  relation  to  offspring — 91     See  '  'Alcohol." 
Soldiers  demand  gratification  of  their  passional  natures — 202 
Spartans,  marriage  relations  among — 13  et  seq. 
Special  aptitudes  of  child  determined  by  prenatal  influences — 204 
Spectre  of  heredity — 127  et  seq. 

Spencer,  Herbert- 4,  77,  78,  85,  87,  112,  115,  149,  169,  181 
Sperma  tozoon — 162 

Spiritual  nature,  appeal  to,  in  hypnotic  suggestion — 221 
Spontaneous  thought  transference — 224 
Standing  armies,  crushing  burden  of— 203 
State,  aid  of  the,  to  race  improvement— 53 
State,  children  regarded  as  belonging  to  the — 10  et  seq.,  22 
Stirpiculture.      See  "  Race,  improvement  of  the." 
Stirpiculture,  meaning  of —10 

Stirpicultnre,  good  air  and  water  as  factors  in — 175 
Stirpiculture,  Noyes'  experiment  in — 37  et  seq. 
btirpiculture,  starting  point  of — 52 


237 

Strength  as  necessary  as  tenderness  to  bringing  up  of  children — 213 

Struggle,  sexual  selection  through — 132 

Studious  habits  transmitted  to  children — 205 

Subliminal  self,  orders  conveyed  to,  by  hypnotic  suggestion — 222 

Suggestion  as  an  aid  to  child  training — 214,  221 

Suggestion  by  parents  to  children  for  educational  purposes— 223 

Suggestion  during  mesmeric  sleep,  bad  habits  cured  by — 214 

Suggestion  during  mesmeric  sleep,  beneficial  effect  of,  over  mental 

,        dullness— 215 

Suggestion,  hypnotic,  influence  of,  in  developing  self-control — 219 

Suggestion,  hypnotic,  method  of,  employed  by  Dr.  R.  Osgood  Mason 

for  educational  purposes — 215  et  seq. 
Suggestive  therapeutics — 214 
Superiority  of  offspring,  where  limited— 184 
Surgical  operations,  prevention  of  pain  in,  by  mesmerism — 214 
Survival  of  the  fittest— 9 
Survival,  what  constitutes  fitness  for — 141 
Sympathy,  spiritual,  as  the  basis  of  race  improvement — 53 

Taxation,  burden  of,  created  by  war — 203 

Telegony — 85  et  seq. 

Temper,  bad,  cured  by  hypnotic  suggestion — 217 

Tenderness  to  be  combined  with  strength  in  bringing  up  children 
—213 

Theoretical  baby— 185  et  seq. 

Thought  transference  induced  artificially  in  hypnotic  state — 224 

Thought  transference,  nature  of — 224 

Thought  transference,  transmission  of  health  by,  to  a  young  sick 
child— 224 

Timidity  cured  by  hypnotic  suggestion — 216 

Toes,  modification  of  the,  in  man — 112 

Touch,  modification  of  the  sense  of — 114 

Training  of  children  aided  by  hypnotic  suggestion — 221 

Training  of  children,  Plutarch  on  the — 16  et  seq. 

Transformation  of  heredity — 83 

Transitory  states  of  parents,  effect  of  on  offspring — 59 

Transmission  by  mother  to  child  of  aptitude  for  hard  work — 207 

Transmission  by  mother  to  child  of  artistic  and  literary  tastes — 204 
et  seq.,  207 

Transmission  by  mother  to  child  of  taste  for  study  of  natural  his- 
tory—206 

Transmission  by  mother  to  child  of  taste  for  surgical  nursing— 207 


238 

Tranmission  of  ncquhvd  characti  rs.     ,S«>   "Acquired  characters." 
Transmission  of  effects  of  exercise — 111 
Tylor,  E.  B.  —64,  07 
Twins,  resemblance  of — 90 

Unborn  children  injured  by  war— 109 
Unborn  children,  interests  of — 199 
Unfit,  elimination  of  the — 139 
Unicellular  organisms — 109 
Uterine  existence,  disturbances  of— 58,  68 

Vaccination  as  a  preserver  of  weak  constitutions — 11. "> 
Vitality,  surplus,  production  of  offspring  depends  on — 169 

Wake,  C.  Staniland—21,  42,  G6 

Wallace,  A.  #.—44,  136 

Wallace,  Alfred  Russell,  on  prenatal  influences — 201 

War  and  parentage — 199 

War,  effects  of,  on  civilization — 199 

War,  effects  of,  on  unborn  children— 199  et  seq. 

War,  enemy  to  the  highest  motherhood — 204 

Weber,  Professor— 114 

Weismann,  Professor— 72,  74  et  seq.,  78,  107,  118 

Wet  nurses,  use  of,  accompanied  by  physical  weakness— 208 

Whale,  modification  of  structure  of  the — 115 

White  race,  superiority  of  the,  due  to  consciousness  of  duty  towards 

the  race — 211 

Wolf,  Caspar  Frederick— 104: 

Woman,  condition  of,  among  Flat  head  Indians — 213 
Woman,  first  duty  of —47 
Woman  not  superior  to  man-  212 

Woman,  selective  action  of,  in  marriage — 32,  43  et  seq. 
Women  incapable  of  love  inferior  as  mothers — 208 
Women  more  numerous  than  men — 136 
Women,  preference  for  certain  characteristics  in  men — 133 

Xenophon — 15 

Zeigler,  Professor— SI,  91 


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